Mellon Foundation Goes Woke
By Claudia Henneberry
September 2024
[Editor’s Note - The Mellon Foundation has emerged as a major force in the radical Left’s attempt to distort American history. For the past several months, the Guardians of History team has been examining Mellon’s role in funding Leftist anti-American agendas. This is the first article in an occasional series highlighting Mellon’s unhealthy preoccupation with identity politics, LGBTQ voices, open borders, and all things Left. ]
The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation’s Monuments Project is a $500 million initiative launched in 2020 to “transform our nation’s commemorative landscape to ensure our collective histories are more completely and accurately represented.” The Monuments Project is accomplishing this lofty goal through its Monument Lab, a nonprofit public art, history, and design studio based in Philadelphia, whose mission is to “advance justice by reimagining monuments.” According the Monument Lab’s website, the Lab is “driven by anti-racist, de-colonial, feminist, queer, working class, climate-conscious, and disability justice perspectives, and knows all forms of oppression must be dismantled for us to truly get free.”
The Monument Lab has audited approximately 50,000 monuments across the U.S. to inform the Monuments Project on what must be done to “transform the way our country’s histories are told in public spaces” and how “to debunk falsehoods and misperceptions within public memory.” In other words, they’re documenting which monuments must be toppled and which history must be erased.
Below are just some of the projects sponsored by the Mellon Foundation that are anti-American, anti-beauty, and divisive.
By Claudia Henneberry
September 2024
[Editor’s Note - The Mellon Foundation has emerged as a major force in the radical Left’s attempt to distort American history. For the past several months, the Guardians of History team has been examining Mellon’s role in funding Leftist anti-American agendas. This is the first article in an occasional series highlighting Mellon’s unhealthy preoccupation with identity politics, LGBTQ voices, open borders, and all things Left. ]
The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation’s Monuments Project is a $500 million initiative launched in 2020 to “transform our nation’s commemorative landscape to ensure our collective histories are more completely and accurately represented.” The Monuments Project is accomplishing this lofty goal through its Monument Lab, a nonprofit public art, history, and design studio based in Philadelphia, whose mission is to “advance justice by reimagining monuments.” According the Monument Lab’s website, the Lab is “driven by anti-racist, de-colonial, feminist, queer, working class, climate-conscious, and disability justice perspectives, and knows all forms of oppression must be dismantled for us to truly get free.”
The Monument Lab has audited approximately 50,000 monuments across the U.S. to inform the Monuments Project on what must be done to “transform the way our country’s histories are told in public spaces” and how “to debunk falsehoods and misperceptions within public memory.” In other words, they’re documenting which monuments must be toppled and which history must be erased.
Below are just some of the projects sponsored by the Mellon Foundation that are anti-American, anti-beauty, and divisive.
Credit: Military Park Partnership
Gutzon Borglum - Wars of America - Newark, NJ - 1929
Located at the southern gateway to Military Park in Downtown Newark is the ‘Wars of America’ memorial by Gutzon Borglum, the sculptor of the ‘Seated Lincoln’ memorial at the Essex County Courthouse as well as the Mount Rushmore National Memorial in South Dakota. Wars of America, which features two horses and 42 soldiers, “was one of the last great public projects completed before the Great Depression of 1929,” and “is dedicated to the soldiers, sailors and marines of four American wars: the Revolution, Civil War, Spanish-American War, and the Great War.”
The next picture shows what was done to this monument.
Located at the southern gateway to Military Park in Downtown Newark is the ‘Wars of America’ memorial by Gutzon Borglum, the sculptor of the ‘Seated Lincoln’ memorial at the Essex County Courthouse as well as the Mount Rushmore National Memorial in South Dakota. Wars of America, which features two horses and 42 soldiers, “was one of the last great public projects completed before the Great Depression of 1929,” and “is dedicated to the soldiers, sailors and marines of four American wars: the Revolution, Civil War, Spanish-American War, and the Great War.”
The next picture shows what was done to this monument.
Image courtesy of the artist
Manuel Acevedo - A Call to Peace – October - November, 2019 - The “artist” claims his camouflage veils are placed over the monument to confront the history of wars, civilian bombings, and systemic oppression.”
The following four projects are part of the Monument Lab’s “Slow Motion” in NJ.
The following four projects are part of the Monument Lab’s “Slow Motion” in NJ.
photo: Bruce M. White
Billy Dufala - Future Futures – May, 2024 – September, 2025 – Hamilton, NJ
Materials: Recycled aluminum bales, zip ties. The “artist” staged this exhibit to recall harrowing scenes from recycling centers that were filled with stacks of unsold materials during the 2014-2015 commodities market crash.
Materials: Recycled aluminum bales, zip ties. The “artist” staged this exhibit to recall harrowing scenes from recycling centers that were filled with stacks of unsold materials during the 2014-2015 commodities market crash.
photo: Bruce M. White
Ana Teresa Fernández - SHHH – May, 2024 - September, 2025 – Hamilton, NJ
The “artist” is protesting “human-impacted climate change” that impacts “vulnerable communities.” SHHH grieves a future in which the extinction of cultural and biological diversity is marked by eerie quiet—listen, and you might hear the golden acrylic discs clank against each other as they move in concert with their environment.
The “artist” is protesting “human-impacted climate change” that impacts “vulnerable communities.” SHHH grieves a future in which the extinction of cultural and biological diversity is marked by eerie quiet—listen, and you might hear the golden acrylic discs clank against each other as they move in concert with their environment.
photo: Bruce M. White
Colette Fu - Noodle Mountain – May, 2024 – September, 2025 – Hamilton, NJ
“Scenes of nostalgia converge with broader racialized experiences of Asians in America. Since the mid-nineteenth century, Americans opposed Chinese immigration, fearing the “Yellow Peril” that threatened to bring disease and crime to their shores. Such widespread rhetoric led to the destruction of Chinese businesses and homes, lynchings, and racist laws that severely curbed immigration from China to the U.S.”
“Scenes of nostalgia converge with broader racialized experiences of Asians in America. Since the mid-nineteenth century, Americans opposed Chinese immigration, fearing the “Yellow Peril” that threatened to bring disease and crime to their shores. Such widespread rhetoric led to the destruction of Chinese businesses and homes, lynchings, and racist laws that severely curbed immigration from China to the U.S.”
photo: Bruce M. White
Sandy Williams IV - The Wax Monuments – May, 2024 – September, 2025
These are beeswax versions of our iconic symbols from around the nation, staged “atop a long pedestal inspired by the steps of the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, D.C.” - steps that “serve as a stage for collective action–where “the people” speak back to the systems of power and oppression.” The artist “illuminates the dissonances within the stories that America tells itself, which often cast myth as history and distort truth. In other words, the installation does not seek to make claims about which historical figures and symbols are “good” or “bad”. Rather, the installation sparks questions about how monuments obscure histories, while inviting the people to engage with symbols.”
The following three projects are part of Monument Lab’s “Beyond Granite: Pulling Together”.
These are beeswax versions of our iconic symbols from around the nation, staged “atop a long pedestal inspired by the steps of the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, D.C.” - steps that “serve as a stage for collective action–where “the people” speak back to the systems of power and oppression.” The artist “illuminates the dissonances within the stories that America tells itself, which often cast myth as history and distort truth. In other words, the installation does not seek to make claims about which historical figures and symbols are “good” or “bad”. Rather, the installation sparks questions about how monuments obscure histories, while inviting the people to engage with symbols.”
The following three projects are part of Monument Lab’s “Beyond Granite: Pulling Together”.
Photo by Steve Weinik
Ashon T. Crawley – Homegoing – August 2023 – September 2023 - Washington Monument–South Grounds
An audiovisual memorial about the impact of the AIDS crisis that centers spirituality as a means of honoring fallen Black queer church musicians.
An audiovisual memorial about the impact of the AIDS crisis that centers spirituality as a means of honoring fallen Black queer church musicians.
Photo by Steve Weinik
vanessa german - Of Thee We Sing – Aug. – Sept. 2023 - Lincoln Memorial Plaza
This is “an innovative statue of Marian Anderson and her powerful 1939 concert at the Lincoln Memorial, held up by a sea of hands and historic images of the attendees.” I’m putting this here because I think it is an insult to the beautiful Marian.
This is “an innovative statue of Marian Anderson and her powerful 1939 concert at the Lincoln Memorial, held up by a sea of hands and historic images of the attendees.” I’m putting this here because I think it is an insult to the beautiful Marian.
Photo by Steve Weinik
Wendy Red Star - The Soil You See… - 2023 - Constitution Gardens, Signers Island
A monumental fingerprint with the names of the Apsáalooke (Crow) nation chiefs who signed treaties with the U.S. government, in dialogue with the nearby 56 Signers of the Declaration of Independence Memorial.
Current Projects by the Monument Lab
A monumental fingerprint with the names of the Apsáalooke (Crow) nation chiefs who signed treaties with the U.S. government, in dialogue with the nearby 56 Signers of the Declaration of Independence Memorial.
Current Projects by the Monument Lab
Sonya Clark – Declaration House – “The Descendants of Monticello"
June 24 – Independence National Historical Park
The exhibition explores the site where Thomas Jefferson and Robert Hemmings spent several months in Philadelphia during the summer of 1776 during the drafting of the Declaration of Independence. The project poses a central question: What does the Declaration of Independence mean to us today? By moving Hemmings to the center of this moment in history, the project seeks to illuminate the entangled legacies of freedom and enslavement at the core of our nation’s founding. Watch Sonya Clark’s short video.
Monument Lab’s Re:Generation 2024 – Below are 3 of 10 Re:Generation projects
Monument Lab Re:Generation supports a 2024 cohort of ten teams working to create new or to expand existing participatory public art, public history, or public humanities projects. Each of the 10 selected Re:Generation teams will receive a total of $100,000 in unrestricted funding towards their commemorative campaign or project. Re:Generation is supported by https://x.com/MellonFdn.”
June 24 – Independence National Historical Park
The exhibition explores the site where Thomas Jefferson and Robert Hemmings spent several months in Philadelphia during the summer of 1776 during the drafting of the Declaration of Independence. The project poses a central question: What does the Declaration of Independence mean to us today? By moving Hemmings to the center of this moment in history, the project seeks to illuminate the entangled legacies of freedom and enslavement at the core of our nation’s founding. Watch Sonya Clark’s short video.
Monument Lab’s Re:Generation 2024 – Below are 3 of 10 Re:Generation projects
Monument Lab Re:Generation supports a 2024 cohort of ten teams working to create new or to expand existing participatory public art, public history, or public humanities projects. Each of the 10 selected Re:Generation teams will receive a total of $100,000 in unrestricted funding towards their commemorative campaign or project. Re:Generation is supported by https://x.com/MellonFdn.”
The Miami AIDS Memorials Project will make HIV/AIDS history visible in Miami’s built environment by activating two public artworks and by planning for commemorative interventions at three sites related to distinct populations and communities impacted by the local history of the epidemic.
Team Members include: Dan Royles, Dudley Alexis and Julio Capó, Jr.
Monument Lab’s Re:Generation 2024 – Mapping Trans Joy – Baton Rouge, Louisiana
Team Members include: Dan Royles, Dudley Alexis and Julio Capó, Jr.
Monument Lab’s Re:Generation 2024 – Mapping Trans Joy – Baton Rouge, Louisiana
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“We’re a joy-as-resistance project to reimagine our geography through a lens of TransJoy. We belong here. We belong everywhere. #transRights #protectTransKids”
“Mapping Trans Joy combines physical interventions, public art installations, public events, and oral history collection in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, and at partner sites across the Southeast, including Lafayette, Louisiana; Jackson, Mississippi; Nashville, Tennessee; Gainesville, Florida; southwest Virginia; and southern West Virginia. **This project is mobile or multi-location. Team Members include: Sophie Ziegler, SK Groll, Nathalie Nia Foulk and Morgan Udoh. Mapping Trans Joy is a project of Monument Lab's Re:Generation, supported by the Mellon Foundation.”
From what I can tell from the above ‘project,’ these people are just doing videos of themselves experiencing “trans joy,” whatever that is, in various locations in the South. They are also supposed to be “resisting” something, but I don’t know what.
Re:Generation 2024 – Melting Ice – Tacoma, Washington
“Mapping Trans Joy combines physical interventions, public art installations, public events, and oral history collection in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, and at partner sites across the Southeast, including Lafayette, Louisiana; Jackson, Mississippi; Nashville, Tennessee; Gainesville, Florida; southwest Virginia; and southern West Virginia. **This project is mobile or multi-location. Team Members include: Sophie Ziegler, SK Groll, Nathalie Nia Foulk and Morgan Udoh. Mapping Trans Joy is a project of Monument Lab's Re:Generation, supported by the Mellon Foundation.”
From what I can tell from the above ‘project,’ these people are just doing videos of themselves experiencing “trans joy,” whatever that is, in various locations in the South. They are also supposed to be “resisting” something, but I don’t know what.
Re:Generation 2024 – Melting Ice – Tacoma, Washington
“Meet the Monument Lab Re:Generation team Melting ICE in Tacoma, Washington.
The project will feature an integrated public art exhibit and banner display that focuses on one of the most marginalized and vulnerable populations in U.S. society: undocumented detainees. The project will highlight the stories and experiences of people being held at the Northwest Detention Center in Tacoma, Washington, and will support the advocacy efforts of La Resistencia, a grassroots organization fighting to end the detention of immigrants and stop deportations. Team Members Include: Wendy Pantoj, Rufina Reyes, Bob Bussel, Lilliana Chumpitasi, Sonia De La Cruz, Maru Mora Villalpando, Quintin Mattson-Hayward, and Alejandra Gonza”
Past Monument Lab Monuments
The project will feature an integrated public art exhibit and banner display that focuses on one of the most marginalized and vulnerable populations in U.S. society: undocumented detainees. The project will highlight the stories and experiences of people being held at the Northwest Detention Center in Tacoma, Washington, and will support the advocacy efforts of La Resistencia, a grassroots organization fighting to end the detention of immigrants and stop deportations. Team Members Include: Wendy Pantoj, Rufina Reyes, Bob Bussel, Lilliana Chumpitasi, Sonia De La Cruz, Maru Mora Villalpando, Quintin Mattson-Hayward, and Alejandra Gonza”
Past Monument Lab Monuments
Tania Bruguera – Monument to New Immigrants - Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, Philadelphia, PA - September 2017 — November 2017 - The statue represents a kid as a metaphor for what is experienced once you immigrate: no matter how old a person is, they need to start over. The idea behind the statue is not to represent a particular community, but all the immigrants; for this reason, they don’t have any specific gender or appearance, and they do not have a ‘face’. The lack of facial details is a way to emphasize the sense of precarity that immigrants experience: they are not always in one place; part of them is somewhere else, in their home country, and their identity is formed by their experiences in their new place.
Kara Crombie – Sample Philly – 2017
Hank Willis Thomas – All Power To All People – 2017
Emeka Ogboh featuring Ursula Rucker, Logan Squared: Ode to Philly – 2017
Kara Crombie - Sample Philly (Discovery Phase) - 2015
Terry Adkins - Prototype Monument for Center Square - 2015
As you can see, most of the above projects are anti-American history or anti-American values. They are either full of rage or they simply lack beauty. Perhaps they hold meaning for some, but most represent a grievance with America or with American history. They do not unite us; they divide us.
Laura A. Macaluso, a researcher and writer working on monuments, museums, and material culture, says, “ . . . the upcoming 250th anniversary of the founding of the U.S. is a moment not only to remember revolutionary courage and ideals, but also to confront failures to live up to them. If we take the time, we can use history to understand that the debate around monuments is more complicated — and potentially more useful — than we think.”
Monuments have something to teach us.
History is history. Read it, study it, and learn from it. Contribute to the goodness of the country, don’t tear it down.
Monument Lab is supported by the Mellon Foundation, Bloomberg Connects, Forman Arts Initiative, Hearthland Foundation, National Endowment for the Arts, Open Society Foundations, The Pew Center for Arts & Heritage, Philadelphia Foundation, Stardust Arts, VIA Art Fund, Wagner Foundation, and the William Penn Foundation.
As you can see, most of the above projects are anti-American history or anti-American values. They are either full of rage or they simply lack beauty. Perhaps they hold meaning for some, but most represent a grievance with America or with American history. They do not unite us; they divide us.
Laura A. Macaluso, a researcher and writer working on monuments, museums, and material culture, says, “ . . . the upcoming 250th anniversary of the founding of the U.S. is a moment not only to remember revolutionary courage and ideals, but also to confront failures to live up to them. If we take the time, we can use history to understand that the debate around monuments is more complicated — and potentially more useful — than we think.”
Monuments have something to teach us.
History is history. Read it, study it, and learn from it. Contribute to the goodness of the country, don’t tear it down.
Monument Lab is supported by the Mellon Foundation, Bloomberg Connects, Forman Arts Initiative, Hearthland Foundation, National Endowment for the Arts, Open Society Foundations, The Pew Center for Arts & Heritage, Philadelphia Foundation, Stardust Arts, VIA Art Fund, Wagner Foundation, and the William Penn Foundation.