Contesting History: The Statue of Liberty, Lord Nelson, and the Modern Family Monument in the Battle over Collective Memory © 2025 VOL.1

ABSTARCT
By incorporating personal ideas and experiences, Dr. William Anderson Gittens, D.D., highlights the significance of actively interacting with this work in literary interpretation. My main points are: using critical thinking to examine one’s views, using self-reflection to comprehend the motivations of characters, drawing personal connections to topics for deeper insights, and creatively expressing ideas through writing. This method encourages a more meaningful and intimate analysis that connects with the reader and the text. (https://www.scribbr.com/academic-essay/literary-analysis/) Dr.Gittens also argues that this modernity scholarly and cultural discourse explores the symbolic connections between three significant monuments—the Statue of Liberty in New York Harbour, the Lord Nelson statue in Bridgetown, Barbados, and the Modern Family Monument in Barbados. These monuments, though geographically and contextually distinct, serve as powerful symbols of national identity, colonialism, freedom, and the ongoing struggles for self-determination. The Lord Nelson statue, erected in 1813, stood as a symbol of British imperialism and its ties to the transatlantic slave trade. Its removal in 2020 marked a critical moment in Barbados’s journey toward redefining its identity, severing connections to its colonial past (Bajan Things, n.d.; Gittens, 2025). In contrast, the Statue of Liberty, a gift from France to the United States in 1886, represents an idealized vision of freedom and democracy (National Park Service, n.d.). While the Statue of Liberty stands as a universal symbol of liberty, the monuments in Barbados reflect a more specific and tangible shift from colonial oppression to post-colonial sovereignty. The installation of the Monument to the Barbadian Family in 2023 further cements this transition, celebrating the nation’s heroes and the breaking of the chains of slavery (Bajan Things, n.d.; Gittens, 2025). Together, these monuments illustrate the complex processes of reimagining national identity and public memory, particularly in post-colonial contexts. This modernity scholarly and cultural discourse argues that while these monuments differ in historical context, they all share a common purpose: to commemorate freedom, resistance, and the transformation of national narratives.
Dr.William Anderson Gittens, D.D.