Charlestown's Bunker Hill Monument To Be Featured On PBS Show

CHARLESTOWN, MA — Ready for your close up? On Tuesday, July 17 at 8 p.m., WGBH is premiering its latest installment of the hit PBS travel series 10 That Changed America with 10 Monuments That Changed America. Host Geoffrey Baer highlights two major Boston landmarks in this episode – the Bunker Hill Monument and the Robert Gould Shaw and 54th Regiment Memorial.

A fun fact the show highlights is that the Bunker Hill Monument is one of America’s earliest monuments by architect Robert Mills. The iconic towering obelisk honors not one “great hero” but the heroism of all who fought in the Revolutionary War and is a draw for hundreds of Boston visitors each year.

The other Boston monument featured is the Robert Gould Shaw and 54th Regiment Memorial, located at the Boston Common, is a monument that made history by honoring one of the first African American regiments to fight in the Civil War.

The show also explores the stories behind eight other American monuments and the historical moments that inspired them.

Learn the surprising stories behind American icons like the Statue of Liberty, which was devised as a propaganda piece by French republican politicians. It’s an episode full of epic battles fought over how to remember our past: from Maya Lin’s controversial design for the Vietnam Veterans Memorial to the ongoing controversies over Confederate monuments across the South. The episode also uncovers pivotal moments in the evolution of American monuments when daring artists found new ways to honor our history.

Photo:

Geoffrey Baer surrounded by men dressed as members of one of the first African American regiments to fight in the Civil War at the Robert Gould Shaw and 54th Memorial in Boston (1897).

Credit: Photo WTTW and Peter Hennessey