backstory: Veterans Day
Woodrow Wilson is a controversial figure. In late June of this year, Princeton University removed the former President’s name from one of its residential colleges and from its School of Public and International Affairs because of his segregationist policies, citing that Wilson’s “racism was significant and consequential even by the standards of his own time.”
At the same time, we irreplaceably remember Wilson today for establishing Veterans Day, celebrated on November 11 each year because the major hostilities of World War I were viewed in 1919 to have ended the previous year on the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month.
Originally called Armistice Day, the holiday was renamed Veterans Day in 1954. It is a day when we celebrate U.S. veterans as Wilson observed, with “solemn pride in the heroism of those who died in the country’s service, and with gratitude for the victory, both because of the thing from which it has freed us and because of the opportunity it has given America to show her sympathy with peace and justice in the councils of nations.”
At the same time that this day provides us with a moment to celebrate veterans, it also serves as a moment to pause and consider the struggles with which many veterans and their families contend as well as, as the Equal Justice Initiative reminds us, the ways in which in particular “for generations, African Americans returning home from service were more likely to face discrimination, disrespect, violence, and even death.” (Read more)
The Neuberger can take a small number of large bites and a large number of small bites when it comes to addressing issues of systemic inequity. In addressing inequities faced by veterans, we continue to take the same bite we have taken for a long time by participating in the Blue Star Museum program, administered by Blue Star Families which offers an array of relief programs to military families. Learn more about Blue Star Families and about their museums program.
Be safe, be well.
Originally called Armistice Day, the holiday was renamed Veterans Day in 1954. It is a day when we celebrate U.S. veterans as Wilson observed, with “solemn pride in the heroism of those who died in the country’s service, and with gratitude for the victory, both because of the thing from which it has freed us and because of the opportunity it has given America to show her sympathy with peace and justice in the councils of nations.”
At the same time that this day provides us with a moment to celebrate veterans, it also serves as a moment to pause and consider the struggles with which many veterans and their families contend as well as, as the Equal Justice Initiative reminds us, the ways in which in particular “for generations, African Americans returning home from service were more likely to face discrimination, disrespect, violence, and even death.” (Read more)
The Neuberger can take a small number of large bites and a large number of small bites when it comes to addressing issues of systemic inequity. In addressing inequities faced by veterans, we continue to take the same bite we have taken for a long time by participating in the Blue Star Museum program, administered by Blue Star Families which offers an array of relief programs to military families. Learn more about Blue Star Families and about their museums program.
Be safe, be well.
Tracy Fitzpatrick
Director
Neuberger Museum of Art
Find me on Twitter @tracyfitzart