How history centers white supremacy.
Before I get started, I want readers to hold in your mind the idea that being uncomfortable about what I present here is okay. The ideas I write about here may not be enjoyable but my words are not an act of violence, nor is it erasure, and it isn’t oppression. Discomfort is often just growing pains, and expanding of understanding that is hard to process in the moment. I appreciate the time and energy you take to bring in this perspective that has been brewing in my head for a long time.
Sometimes when I talk about white supremacy people get triggered. I think it is because the word is defined in more than one way, and of course what those definitions reveal. I thought it may be helpful to talk about it here so that I can point people this way when they accuse me of calling them racist. White supremacy is what white supremacists do with direct intention, but it is also what we can all unintentionally participate in as we comfortably exist in a society that centers whiteness. This concept is defined well in Mirriam Webster’s definition of white supremacy, as it notes two ways to define the term. There is also a specific difference when you end the words with “acy” rather than “acist.” The “acy” suffix is a broader systemic term and “acist” is referring directly to a singular individual acting with intention. I often use the words white supremacy in a similar way that we use the word “patriarchy.” It is still a man’s world and we all exist in it (this is it’s own blog topic), and we use patriarchy as a descriptor for that systemic issue that still inserts itself everyone’s daily experience even if we aren’t intentionally trying to center maleness. If they make a sequel to the Barbie movie, think of it as Ken discovering “white supremacy” and bringing it back to Barbieland rather than “patriarchy,” to create a parallel storyline with a topical twist.
I talk about white supremacy a lot in this blog, and there is a good reason! My perspective is that if I am aware of the issue and if I don’t do anything about it, I am complicit to the white supremacy. That would mean I don’t just exist in the systemic ignorance of it, but my inaction would serve as action enough to put me in the framework of supremacists. We have agency over our action just as we have agency over our ability to do nothing at all. Also, talking about it and learning about it is the only way to end it. It is not funny that many people in my community think 90% of our population is white for no particular reason at all. It is that way because we have let the systems that center whiteness continue without question. We love our ignorance of this issue because we are comfortable in that ignorance. We don’t have to worry about “acist” versus “acy” when we don’t try to understand.
From our 3/15/24 protest calling for the City of Madison, Indiana to change the name of Costigan Park to DeBaptiste Park. The protest was intended to spread awareness of the issue regarding the city’s act of naming a park intended to honor a Black hero of the Underground Railroad after an affluent white architect who has no notable connection to the Underground Railroad. The blue sign angered some community members and inspired this blog post.
Why isn’t our community more diverse? That is a complex answer that I have touched on in several previous blog posts. The inspiration from this post came from a sign that I made and we used at a MAARCH protest on Friday, March 15th that said, “Hiding Black Histories is an Act of White Supremacy,” so in this writing exercise I will just focus on history as a cause for my community having significantly less diversity than the rest of the United States. As a white woman it can be hard to see because I exist in the privilege that centers whiteness here, and I have to focus on seeing outside of my own perspective and listen to people who have had different experiences than I have had. Most of what I do is lifting up the voices and concerns of the people I have listened to or read accounts from, so I am speaking as an ally of many, not a singular perspective. Here is the list of how history itself and how we frame it makes us less diverse:
For a place that is so rich in Black history, Madison is not good at showing it or sharing it. This whole issue came up because of a park that is currently being built to honor Black history. There has been an effort to make a park honoring the legacy of the Underground Railroad in Madison, Indiana for years! This year is the year that it is coming to fruition! After initially being placed in a historically black neighborhood (Georgetown) on Walnut Street, it was moved to a location near the riverfront on Poplar street in a more tourist centered (and more well funded and historically preserved see #2 for more on this) part of town. There will be a bust sculpture of George DeBaptiste, a free black man who lived in Madison in the 1800’s and was a prominent figure and conductor with the Underground Railroad who risked his life and liberty to help others have life and liberty. The big controversy started when it was announced in December that the park would be named “Costigan Park” after a prominent architect that was a contemporary to George DeBaptiste. As far as I know Francis Costigan has no meaningful connection to DeBaptiste or the Underground Railroad efforts at the time. Francis Costigan is already recognized with the preservation of his own home as a museum, and two large homes (also museum properties) that he designed nearby this new park.
Recently Madison got on a USA Today poll list for the “Best Small Town in the Midwest.” In the description that calls for votes, Madison is first described in this way, “has played a major role in the history of the Midwest since the 19th century, with many local residents assisting passengers with their escape from Kentucky through the Underground Railroad.” I am glad that this acknowledgement is front and center in this online poll, but I struggle with the concept of how boldly this is stated in contrast to how quiet we have been about it in preservation and education efforts in our community. What happens when people see this statement, come to our community to learn about it, and find that they can’t enter the spaces associated with the Underground Railroad? That all the museums focus mainly on the history of our white community?
For anyone who wants to come to Madison and learn about the Underground Railroad, how do they do that when the public space set aside for that purpose is named after a white man who had nothing to do with the Underground Railroad? Names define why parks exist, and Francis Costigan existed to build fancy houses and buildings for rich white people. So that is how this park went from highlighting our unique history with the Underground Railroad to highlighting how white supremacy consistently frames the history of our community.
2. For a place that is so rich in Black history and historic architecture preservation, we have not been as good at preserving structures associated with our historic Black community as we have with our white history. We also haven’t invested in making learning about Black History in our community as accessible to the public. Most of downtown Madison is a National Historic Landmark District, and it is the biggest one in the entire country! The historic Black neighborhoods all fall within the district. Despite that, money and interest in preserving white centered history has been consistent, while only in the last few decades have we seen efforts by nonprofits and individuals to preserve and educate about locations associated with Black history. Part of the challenge is that the areas where the historic Black community of Madison lived are still economically depressed, so homeowners can’t afford matching grants that would help them preserve the structures. Also, many of the structures have been destroyed by fires and the installation of a parking lot by our local hospital system. Many of the preserved notable locations now are private residences rather than being purchased as museum properties. While there is a self guided walking tour, none of these spaces are preserved as museums or can be entered by the general public. If you don’t see the history of your ancestors being told in meaningful ways, would you feel valued by your community?
This map is edited with yellow highlights to show where historically black neighborhoods exist. It clearly shows the drastic difference in the number of cultural assets, public parks, public art, and museum properties in these spaces despite a rich and unique history. This map is distinct evidence of the years of the active aversion to bringing Black stories and histories to the public, and is an indicator of the need for more equitable practices in preservation and education about diverse histories in Madison, Indiana. The original map can be found at this link.
3. It’s Indiana, and the history of Indiana is not kind to diverse communities! Jefferson County is unique in that we have Black history that white people can be proud of because of collaborative efforts in the Underground Railroad and the Eleutherian College. Indiana was not a safe or welcoming place for Black people even as a northern state in the 19th and 20th century. It was full of sundown towns and counties (our county was literally flanked by them.) The KKK became very active in Indiana in the 1900’s (and still is,) and in the 1800’s terrible violence was directed to Black people during the Jim Crowe era, especially in rural areas. Even George DeBaptiste eventually left Madison to move to the safety of Detroit. If you read All We Had Was Each Other by Don Wallis you can hear the stories of what life was like in Madison during the Civil Rights Movement and with Jim Crowe Laws in effect from the perspective of our local Black community. Many of the people that gave testimony in that book are still in the community today. They can tell you that even with Bachelor’s degrees their families couldn’t find work in our community outside of manual labor because companies wouldn’t hire Black people until their hands were forced by the US Government with Title VII laws in the 1960’s. The fact that we don’t acknowledge these histories as a community shows that we aren’t requiring our community to take accountability for those things or to make an effort to make sure that they don’t happen again in the future.
4. The history we present is experienced differently. One of the big draws to Madison for tourists is the historic nature of the town. It really is like stepping back in time to the 1800’s in some areas and the 1950’s in others. For white people that is super cool! For Black people, that can be really scary…especially when the narratives from their ancestors perspective are distinctly absent from histories that are highlighted. In our community there are still structures that were segregated including drug stores where there were sit ins and a movie theater with a segregated balcony, but no mention of that history anywhere in these spaces (yet.) Charleston, South Carolina has been struggling with it’s own efforts to represent Black history and this article sums up that struggle and offers solutions.
5. Some of the histories we display in our community are false. I have said it before and I will say it again. We lift up too many “historic” symbols that are legitimately white supremacist (yes with “acist” not “acy”.) Confederate “Rebel” culture is widely seen as acceptable here, and it is oppressive to our black community. It is harmful to everyone because people try to validate it by calling it “culture” when all it is, is a culture of white supremacist ideals. It is not okay and it never was. It is the lie of The Lost Cause in action, and that action is one that rewrites history into comfortable white lies.
And now you know! Please feel free to comment with more supporting info, because this story is too big to be completed here. Good luck addressing the “acy” so that we don’t become “acists!” Some actions that you can move forward with are as follows:
Learn more! Click through links in this blog to learn more about the topics. Go on the black history walking tour in Madison. Do more research on your own!
Contact Mayor Bob Courtney and the Madison City Council about your opinion around naming the new park on Poplar Street.
Let the Southwestern Jefferson County Consolidated School Corporation know that their nickname refers to a history that students should not be framed within.
Call on the organizations in our community that govern preservation and public education of our communities to tell you what they are doing to center diverse histories (because some of them are doing the work.) If they can’t tell you what they are doing to center diverse histories, ask them to do more!
If you aren’t in the Jefferson County Community, do your own assessments and learning in your community to see how history is being framed and what stories aren’t being told.
***Edit 5/28/24***
This edit is to note that in early May, the Madison, Indiana City Council voted to change the name of “Costigan Park” to a more neutral “Ohio River Legacy Park” because of the feedback they received from the community. Yay! For more info you can find interviews with local leadership about this decision in the May 9th 2024 Madison Courier.
