Memorial Day(s): The Confederate Mound at Oak Woods Cemetery
The Hyde Park Historical Society served as a community partner over the winter and spring of 2024, to a group of UChicago students as they created this documentary on Oak Woods Cemetery's Confederate Mound for their Public History Seminar. The HPHS hopes this can evoke continued conversations by communities throughout the South Side about the history of the cemetery and the presence of the mound.
This documentary was produced by Elena Eisenstadt, Urooj Naveed, Ethan Buck and Xingyi Guo as part of their UChicago Public History Seminar during the winter and spring quarters of 2024. Videograph and Editing by Sonny Heyes.
A list of questions to consider before, during, and after watching this documentary:
Thoughts behind the documentary title:
Keep in mind the different memorial days presented in the narrative. There is a strange symmetry in the division. Grieving/glorification conversations are running parallel - people are commemorating their “own” dead. Can one country have multiple memorial days?
1. Public Space & Conspicuously Public Space a. Has the Confederate Mound been forgotten? By whom? b. What is the aesthetic or emotional function of Confederate monuments?
2. Grieving versus Glorification a. How can learning about how people grieve tell us about how they live? b. Is it possible to grieve Confederate dead without glorifying the Confederacy? c. Do monuments inherently glorify the people or things they represent?
3. Compromising with Ugly Past(s) a. Did any of the testimonies surprise you? Did you disagree with any of them? What did you find meaningful about them? b. Do you think the presence of controversial monuments in public space forces us to remember, talk about, or think about the aspects of our nation's history that are ugly? Or, does the presence of controversial monuments in public spaces inhibit us from having these conversations?
4. What other thoughts come to mind?
5. Do you have any memories of the Oak Woods Cemetery? What about the Confederate Mound?