My Life as Historian of Public Memories

Performative Power of Pageants, Exhibits, and Monuments in the Public Space

Abstract

This reflective essay traces Alessandra Lorini’s forty-year journey as a public historian, focusing on how conflicts of race, class, and gender have been performed and contested in U.S. public spaces through monuments and commemorative practices. Drawing on interdisciplinary research and personal experience, Lorini explores the symbolic power of monuments—including those in New York, Havana, and Montgomery—from the 19th century to the present, situating them within the long durée of the “culture wars” debates.