Sunday, January 5, 2025: 4:10 PM
Gramercy East (New York Hilton)
From Oval Office pronouncements to local classroom lessons; from FDNY facilities to family victim groups; from local community commemorations to dramatic portrayals in theatre and film, a vast array of memories about the 9/11 attacks and their significance—including, some would argue, mythic memories—have been constructed and delivered to the American public between 2001 and 2023.
Government leaders like George W. Bush and Rudolph Giuliani immediately composed a 9/11 story heroizing all the slaughtered, and the American people more broadly, as innocent victims. The narrative, they hoped, would not only unify Americans, but also support recovery, reconstruction, and revenge. While some family victim groups supported the story vigorously, another contested sharply some of the central elements. Perusal of ubiquitous firehouse 9/11 memorials across New York City today might lead one to conclude that the organization defines itself, in part, through the 343 members lost that day. But the response of the FDNY to those losses may reveal some deeper truths about the department. Almost as ubiquitous across America are local memorials constructed around fragments of World Trade Center debris made available by federal agencies and the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey. Yet those memorials, and yearly commemorations hosted there, serve contrasting—if not competing—purposes. Film and theatrical productions covering or referencing the attacks deliver varied messages; they spur ongoing reconsideration of the effect of 9/11 upon American society. School textbook accounts—and low-level knowledge among college students about the U.S. response to the attacks—may indicate that a dominant narrative persists.
Interpreting the significance of the 9/11 attacks will likely remain a fraught process, with many seeking to control the narrative. The complex historical truth about 9/11, plus the equally complex manner in which it is remembered, deserves careful retelling.
Government leaders like George W. Bush and Rudolph Giuliani immediately composed a 9/11 story heroizing all the slaughtered, and the American people more broadly, as innocent victims. The narrative, they hoped, would not only unify Americans, but also support recovery, reconstruction, and revenge. While some family victim groups supported the story vigorously, another contested sharply some of the central elements. Perusal of ubiquitous firehouse 9/11 memorials across New York City today might lead one to conclude that the organization defines itself, in part, through the 343 members lost that day. But the response of the FDNY to those losses may reveal some deeper truths about the department. Almost as ubiquitous across America are local memorials constructed around fragments of World Trade Center debris made available by federal agencies and the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey. Yet those memorials, and yearly commemorations hosted there, serve contrasting—if not competing—purposes. Film and theatrical productions covering or referencing the attacks deliver varied messages; they spur ongoing reconsideration of the effect of 9/11 upon American society. School textbook accounts—and low-level knowledge among college students about the U.S. response to the attacks—may indicate that a dominant narrative persists.
Interpreting the significance of the 9/11 attacks will likely remain a fraught process, with many seeking to control the narrative. The complex historical truth about 9/11, plus the equally complex manner in which it is remembered, deserves careful retelling.
See more of: Teaching History with Integrity in Public: Contested Memories, Memorials, and Memorialization of Modern Atrocity and Trauma
See more of: AHA Sessions
See more of: AHA Sessions
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