Pullman

In chapter 9, Mark Cassello focuses on the Town of Pullman, Illinois, a large historic site, and President Obama’s role in establishing it as a national monument. Built by George M. Pullman for railcar workers, the town has a fraught history surrounding its labor practices. The tension between its infamy and its role as national monument creates contradictions in public memory. Public memory attempts to reconcile conflicts between official culture and vernacular culture to produce a durable and dominant account of historical events. When US presidents establish national monuments, they act as spokespersons of official culture. These constructions of public memory by the state must, to an extent, diminish, disregard, or silence histories that may compete, contradict, or otherwise complicate the accounts favored by official culture. Placing this site within the context of labor history and the role of the Black porters, Cassello examines how changes to the landscape, competing official and vernacular interests, and racism contribute to why some events, individuals, and structures are commemorated and others are not. Through this analysis, Cassello addresses the implications of President Obama’s attempt to reconcile Pullman’s vexed history into a single, unifying nationalistic narrative through his establishment of the Pullman National Monument.