As part of ongoing work by the Chicago Monuments Committee, 41 monuments and memorials across the city are now “under review” for potential removal or modification. The city of Chicago recently announced a $6.8 million Mellon Foundation grant to the committee, and the announcement spurs me to defend one of those 41 monuments: the frieze sculpture of Potawatomi Chief Naunongee on the Michigan Avenue Bridge House.
This sculpture is an important part of Indigenous history, depicting the last desperate push to return sovereignty to Chicago’s first Americans.
