Who Owns America’s History? The Answer will Define What Replaces Fallen Monuments

In May of 2020, Americans were outraged after a white police officer murdered a Black man named George Floyd in Minneapolis. In the wake of George Floyd’s death, there was been sustained movement for the removal of public art and recognition of historical figures who held Black Americans in subjugation or treated their humanity with contempt. Americans tore down symbols of the Confederacy and white supremacy and pushed for schools named after Confederates to be changed. Photographer Kris Graves examines social issues in the western world through his personal work, and for this story, he travelled around the South photographing these passive relics of our racist past, the dynamic changing of these landscapes, and who we’re honoring going forward.