Pittsburgh mayor favors moving controversial Stephen Foster statue

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Pittsburgh (PA) Mayor Bill Peduto said Friday that he thinks the city's Stephen Foster statue should be displayed somewhere other than the publicly owned entrance to Schenley Park because it offends some residents.

The mayor was quick to add that he was conveying his personal opinion and the fate of the 117-year-old landmark that has stirred controversy for years would be decided only after a thorough examination of its history and meaning.

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Critics believe the statue of the famous songwriter Foster standing with a black slave strumming a banjo at his feet is demeaning for many, particularly blacks.

Read more at:
http://triblive.com/local/allegheny/12660439-74/pittsburgh-mayor-favors-moving-controversial-stephen-foster-statue

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1. It's already on the museum grounds.

I think that's a bit of overreaction.

[FakeNoose]

2. Pittsburgh was part of the underground railway

There was never any slavery in Pittsburgh but it's close enough to the Mason-Dixon line. That's the boundary between Maryland and Pennsylvania that demarcated the northern point of the slave states. Pittsburgh is close enough to the Canadian border that many former slaves were assisted to freedom by people who risked their lives and livelihoods to help them get out under cover.

I don't believe that Stephen Foster (who was born and raised in Pittsburgh) ever condoned slavery. But he did write much of his music in cultural appreciation for the black people, in a way that might seem quaint today. It wouldn't seem that Foster's music was considered quaint in its time, any more than white people of today singing rap or Motown. But songs like "Dixie," "Camptown Races," and "Old Black Joe" do stir up feelings in the southern states still today.

I've seen the Stephen Foster statue in Schenley Park and I don't feel it's racist or pejorative, and it's certainly not glorifying the Confederacy. However I applaud Mayor Peduto's effort to identify a potential sore spot before anything stupid might happen. We surely don't need any neo-Nazi rallies or race riots here. So maybe this statue could be relocated to a building rather than outdoor display.