on the study of history and societal heroes

On Monday, Ethan and I were at the Penn Club of New York, watching a panel discussion titled "Is History a Thing of the Past?" This was part of the University of Edinburgh's 300 Years of History celebration. For clarity's sake, The University is over 400 years old. But this celebration is to mark the 300th anniversary of the appointment of Charles Mackie as the university's first history professor.

The panel discussion featured Professor Joanne Freeman (Yale University), Ms. Abena Boakyewa-Ansah* (Vanderbilt University), Professor Ewen Cameron (University of Edinburgh), Professort Frank Cogliano (University of Edinburgh) and Dr. Gayle Lewis (University of Edinburgh).

The major point of the discussion was that history matters because it helps to put current events into context -- both in terms of explaining why we are where we are and as a comparative. Freeman, an expert on early US history, noted that she is often asked if today's rancorous political environment is the worst this country has ever gone through. This point gave Boakyewa-Ansah, whose field is the Civil War, cause to chuckle. It also ties into Freeman's recent book, The Field of Blood: Violence in Congress and the Road to Civil War. Freeman noted that, when people ask about how the current climate stacks up against the past, they usually fall into one of two camps: those who want reassurance that things aren't so bad and those who, for prurient reasons, want to think that the world of today is uniquely bad.

But my favorite part of  the talk came during the Q&A when Cogliano, responding to my question, did a good job ofcrystalizing an issue I've been thinking a lot about. During the talk, there were repeated references to the current phenomenon of removing statues of people who are now deemed unworthy. Christopher Columbus' name came up of course, and so did Thomas Jefferson who, despite having written the Declaration of Independencewhich declares that "all men are created equal" owned slaves.

The issue of statues and their removal is something I've grappled with recently, as I try to determine what I think. I recognize that we don't want to honor racism and other hateful ideologies**, but all people were human, and if we expect everyone to withstand a purity test in order be honored (or to ahve their honors stand), then we will be left with no statues, no iconic heores. And I think that, on some level, a society needs heroes in order to believe in itself. It all relates to whether people in a society believe that the society is fundamentally good (even if flawed) or if they believe the flaws make it beyond redemption. If the latter, then a society is doomed. I asked there's a danger in society holding its icons up to impossible standards and finding them, one after the other, to be unworthy.

More and more I've been coming toward a conclusion that what's crucial is what a person is known for - what his or her defining attributes are. If someone was racist or antisemitic, but is known for some major positive contribution to society, then that's what's crucial. Abraham Lincoln believed that blacks were inferior to whites. But he remains a hero because he's primarily remembered for freeing the slaves and holding the republic together. In the case of Jefferson, Cogliano pointed out that, flawed though he was, he authored this country's founding document -- a document which is still a fundamental part of our cultural DNA.

Hearing these historians talk about their views of history and the importance of understanding history was almost enough to make me wish I'd gone into that field decades ago. And if Ethan ultimately decides to be a historian, that will be a good choice for him.

*Boakyewa-Ansah, the only panelist without a PhD, is a graduate student working toward that degree.
**As a point of reference, I attended a high school named after a virulent antisemite. I knew it when I attended and saw his larger-than-life portrait over the stairs every day. While I wasn't crazy about the name, it didn;t consume me. And I emerged from that school none the worse for it.