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The whitewashing of Salem’s story: Why the Abraham Lincoln Statue misses the mark

To the editor:

On December 16, 2024, Salem unveiled a statue of Abraham Lincoln downtown. The ceremony spoke of our town’s history, yet it erased the very stories that define us. Lincoln never set foot in Salem, but Frederick Douglass did–multiple times. Edwin and Barclay Coppock, young men from Salem, fought alongside John Brown at Harper’s Ferry to end slavery. Edwin was hanged, and Barclay later died fighting for the Union. These are the stories that should be honored.

Instead, Salem chose Lincoln–a symbol repurposed by today’s Republican leadership, which suppresses historical truths. The GOP pushes laws restricting educators from teaching accurate history, penalizing schools that resist. They advocate for school vouchers, cut student support programs, and now promote Lifewise Academy, an initiative pulling students from public schools for religious instruction during class hours. This is a blatant attempt to impose Americanized Christianity, a hypocrisy Frederick Douglass condemned:

“I love the pure, peaceable, and impartial Christianity of Christ: I therefore hate the corrupt, slaveholding, women-whipping, cradle-plundering, partial and hypocritical Christianity of this land… Never was there a clearer case of ‘stealing the livery of the court of heaven to serve the devil in.'”

Douglass, who spoke in Salem in 1852 and 1869, urged Americans to fight for justice. At the Quaker Friends Meeting House, he called upon the working class to stand up for the enslaved. In his “Composite Nation” speech, he envisioned an America that embraced diversity, not whitewashed history.

Why did Salem choose Lincoln over Douglass? Why are we erasing our own radical past? December 16 marked 165 years since Edwin Coppock’s execution for resisting slavery, yet his name was barely mentioned. Our town played a vital role in the Underground Railroad–America’s first interracial liberation movement–yet we choose symbols that obscure rather than illuminate our past.

As a teacher, it is my duty to tell the full story. A statue of Lincoln does not do that–it sanitizes history instead of confronting it. Salem must reclaim its true legacy, not through empty symbols but through truth, education, and the courage to honor those who stood for justice.

Heather Smith,

Salem,

Teacher

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