Contested Histories in Public Spaces is a multi-year initiative intended to address controversies over statues, memorials, street names and other representations of disputed historical legacies in public spaces.

What is an example of a contested history?

Irish history (the "nightmare" from which Joyce's Stephen Dedalus was trying to awake) is a classic example of a contested past. ... Similar contests can be found between Serbs and Croatians, Palestinians and Israelis, Hindus and Muslims.

Why is the history of reconstruction a contested history?

The reason Reconstruction was so contested, and the reason it is still contested, is because it was essentially a decade-long referendum on what the Civil War actually meant. Who or what actually had won? Those are huge and profound questions with very different answers depending on who holds the power.