Bunker Hill: Ongoing Legacies

This article is part of the online feature "Bunker Hill Memory."

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As the United States moved into its second century as a nation, the memory of the American Revolution and the meanings of the Bunker Hill Monument continued to evolve.

Over the years, the Monument has served a variety of purposes. Its meanings are constantly shaped and re-interpreted by communities. As historian Sarah J. Purcell stated, “Even if the pile of stone remains over the years, aspects of its meaning are constantly being renegotiated by those who observe and use it.”

Now stewarded by the National Park Service, this space belongs to everyone. Each of us has the opportunity to reflect on its history and decide what it represents to us.

Explore this final set of quotes to see how community members have continued to use the Monument and its memory for their own causes over the years.

As you reach the end of this exhibit, consider the ever-evolving memory of the Bunker Hill Monument. What does this monument mean to you?

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Women Workers at the Boston Navy Yard during World War I

• Ongoing Legacies: WWI Women Workers Quote

  
  

  Quote from The Boston Post, June 17, 1918.
  Audio Transcript

  Many of my younger friends are inclined to think the present activity of women in public and patriotic works is a distinctly new development in the sex’s activities. As a matter of fact, however, it was the women of New England who made it possible to dedicate Bunker Hill monument 75 years ago today.

  The Boston Post, June 17, 1918. Voiced by: Maria D'Itria, Boston Women Heritage Trail, Teacher at the Harvard-Kent School in Charlestown, Massachusetts.

During World War I, women joined the labor force at the Boston Navy Yard while many of the men went off to fight. This anonymous writer drew comparisons between the work of these women and those who helped with the creation of the Bunker Hill Monument.

Learn more about Women Workers at the Boston Navy Yard during World War I

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President Franklin Delano Roosevelt

• Ongoing Legacies: President Franklin Delano Roosevelt Quote

  
  

  Quote from Franklin Delano Roosevelt, "Radio Address Announcing an Unlimited National Emergency," May 27, 1941.
  Audio Transcript

  Some people seem to think that we are not attacked until bombs actually drop in the streets of New York or San Francisco or New Orleans or Chicago. But they are simply shutting their eyes to the lesson that we must learn from the fate of every Nation that the Nazis have conquered.[…] Nobody can foretell tonight just when the acts of the dictators will ripen into attack on this hemisphere and us. But we know enough by now to realize that it would be suicide to wait until they are in our front yard. When your enemy comes at you in a tank or a bombing plane, if you hold your fire until you see the whites of his eyes, you will never know what hit you. Our Bunker Hill of tomorrow may be several thousand miles from Boston, Massachusetts.

  Franklin Delano Roosevelt, "Radio Address Announcing an Unlimited National Emergency," May 27, 1941.

On May 27, 1941 President Roosevelt spoke to the American people in a fireside chat about the war in Europe. In this radio broadcast, he warned that the war abroad posed a threat to the country's ideals, the same ideals colonists fought for during the American Revolution and Battle of Bunker Hill. Hearing the President's words sparked an African American teenager to travel to Boston to visit the monument built to commemorate the battle.

Learn more about President Franklin Delano Roosevelt

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Vietnam Veterans Against the War

• Ongoing Legacies: Vietnam Veterans Against the War Quote

  
  

  Arthur Johnson & Bestor Cram, The Boston Globe, May 23, 1971.
  Audio Transcript

  We find, upon reflection, that our duty to our country has not ended. And, that like the Winter Soldiers Tom Paine wrote of who stayed behind at Valley Forge in 1776 when the Summer Soldiers and Sunshine Patriots returned to their homes, we must join the harshest campaign of the entire war, the movement to bring about an immediate cessation of all hostilities in Indochina and an immediate withdrawal of all troops… We, as Vietnam Veterans, strongly feel that the United States should cease to build memorials to death and begin to glorify life.

  Arthur Johnson & Bestor Cram, The Boston Globe, May 23, 1971. Voiced by: "Bestor Cram, former Marine officer, served four years with the Marine Corps from 1966-1970. Served in Vietnam from Tet '68 - Tet '69, and then following my release from the Marine Corps I spent 2.5 years working as an organizer with the Vietnam Veterans Against the War.

In 1971, over 200 Vietnam veterans marched from Concord and Lexington to the Bunker Hill Monument to protest the Vietnam War. By retracing the steps of Paul Revere in reverse and spending the night at Bunker Hill, these veterans drew on the memory of the American Revolution to call for the end of U.S. involvement in the Vietnam War. Leaders of the protest Arthur Johnson and Bestor Cram considered the legacy of the Bunker Hill Monument.

Learn more about Vietnam Veterans Against the War

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Bunker Hill Monument Projection

• Ongoing Legacies: Bunker Hill Monument Projection

  
  

  Quote from a Charlestown mother interviewed for the projection, 1998.
  Audio Transcript

  If I have to shout from the top of this monument until you hear me, you will hear me. As I look down on you tonight, I can only say, if this was your child, could you forget? Could you get on with your life? I can't.

  Charlestown mother interviewed for the projection, 1998.

Over the course of three nights in late September 1998, the Bunker Hill Monument served a new role for many in the Charlestown community. It not only remembered the bloody past of those who died in pitched battle more than 200 years prior, it also witnessed the violent present of Charlestown. From September 24-26, a 19-minute projection lit the face of the monument with clips of mothers and brothers sharing stories of losing family members to street violence.

Learn more about Bunker Hill Monument Projection

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