CONCORD, N.H. (AP) — A historic marker devoted to a New Hampshire labor activist who championed girls’s rights and was a founding father of the American Civil Liberties Union — however who additionally joined the Communist Party and was despatched to jail — has draw objections from Republican officers and scrutiny from the governor.
Known as “The Rebel Girl” for her fiery speeches, Elizabeth Gurley Flynn was born in Concord in 1890. A inexperienced and white Historical Highway Marker devoted to her, one in all 278 throughout the state, was unveiled Monday close to her birthplace.
In addition to her rights activism, the marker additionally says she joined the Communist Party in 1936 and was despatched to jail in 1951. She was one in all many get together members prosecuted “under the notorious Smith Act,” the marker says, which forbade any makes an attempt to advocate, abet or train the violent destruction of the U.S. authorities.
Flynn later chaired the Communist Party of the United States and he or she died in Moscow throughout a go to in 1964, at age 74. She was cremated, and her ashes have been taken on a “flower-decked bier” to Red Square throughout a funeral tribute, based on Associated Press accounts on the time.
Republican Gov. Chris Sununu is asking for a evaluation of the state’s historic marker program.
“This is a devout communist,” stated Joseph Kenney, a Republican member of the Executive Council, at an everyday assembly Wednesday. “We are the ‘Live Free or Die’ state. How can we possibly promote her propaganda, which still exists now through this sign in downtown Concord?”
David Wheeler, a Republican who’s additionally on the five-member Executive Council, which votes on state contracts and Sununu’s division appointees, stated he needs the council to have extra oversight of the historic marker course of.
Sarah Stewart, the commissioner for the Department of Natural and Cultural Resources, stated on the assembly that the marker program may be very widespread “because it’s initiated at the local level. There is no state top-down effort to populate the state with historical highway markers.”
There are “many potentially controversial” markers, Stewart stated. “The purpose of them is not to commemorate heroes. The purpose is to provide a snapshot that the local community feels is of historic value.”
Any individual, municipality or company can recommend a marker so long as they get 20 signatures from New Hampshire residents. Supporters should draft the marker’s textual content and supply footnotes and copies of supporting documentation, based on the state Division of Historical Resources. The division and a historic assets advisory group consider the standards.
The signal was accepted final yr by the Concord City Council following a advice from the marker program, which is collectively administered by the Historical Resources Division and the Transportation Department. It at present stands on the fringe of a parking zone close to the county courthouse.
Concord Mayor Jim Bouley stated Friday that the council’s approval was restricted to the placement of the signal for security functions. He stated he was puzzled by a letter Stewart despatched him Thursday saying town can reevaluate its approval of the marker.
“We don’t approve content,” the mayor stated.
Plus, Bouley stated the signal is on state, not metropolis, property. “They can do whatever they want on their own property. Why would the city care?”
Historical markers run the gamut, telling tales in regards to the final residing Revolutionary War soldier, poets and painters who lived close by, long-lost villages and up to date sports activities figures.
Flynn is “one of the most significant radical leaders of the twentieth century,” the marker’s supporters stated in a letter to City Council final yr. The signal additionally notes Flynn’s assist for ladies’s voting rights and for entry to contraception.
“We’re going to review the whole process,” Sununu stated at Wednesday’s assembly.
“I completely agree with the sentiment here,” the governor stated, including, “It’s the state marker. You can’t say we don’t have any responsibility in terms of what it says and where it goes.”
One marker from 2011 that was introduced up throughout Wednesday’s assembly celebrates the fiftieth anniversary of the “Betty and Barney Hill incident,” throughout which the couple reported a detailed encounter with a UFO. Their expertise was described in a best-selling e book, a tv film, and quite a few talking engagements.
“The UFO one I’m gonna live with,” stated Kenney, the Executive Council member. “That’s a funny story.”
Source: www.bostonherald.com”