ATS Blog

Urban issues are surrounded by geography, history and politics and are painted by both race and class. This is ultimately what makes it so complicated when looking at issues and the best ways to address problems. A good location to view this complicated mass of urbanism is Monument Avenue in Richmond. While traveling south towards the city, the first statue is Arthur Ashe. The Ashe statue was placed on Monument Ave. in a sea of controversy. A number of the other statues on Monument are dedications to the fallen leaders of the Confederacy. When it was suggested in the 1990's that other famous Virginians - important to the Civil Rights Movement be placed on the Avenue - there was a number of problems on both sides. The Ashe statue is much smaller in size than the statue of Jefferson Davis which is located further south. This website explains the origins of the controversy of Monument Ave, but offers the following thesis:

It is our finding that as the geographical distance between Americans and America's most beautiful avenue increases, identification with the statuary as a symbol of regional identity and "a state of mind," gives way to the appreciation of the avenue, not for its commemoration of the confederate cause, but rather for its aesthetic beauty. Indeed, the significance of Monument Avenue is variable across time and space.

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