Radiotopia Presents: Shocking, Heartbreaking, Transformative

Today, we are sharing an episode of Monumental, by our old friend Gisele Regatão, the producer/director of a hit dog will holler.

For generations, Christopher Columbus has been glorified in monument after monument across the United States. And while Columbus statues have recently started coming down, including in cities like Columbus, Ohio, the largest one in the world is standing tall - very, very tall… in a U.S. territory – the beach town of Arecibo, Puerto Rico.

In this episode, Gisele travels to Puerto Rico and beyond to uncover the roots of Columbus’ glorification in U.S. history and why he came to be represented in so many public statues – even though he never actually set foot on the U.S. mainland. And she visits a community artist in Woodside, Queens who confronts the myth of Columbus by creating new monuments that celebrate immigrant stories.

A new podcast from PRX, Monumental interrogates the state of monuments across the greater U.S. and what their future says about where we are now and where we’re going. Join host Ashley C. Ford and a team of independent producers in this 10-episode series where we confront the reality of what we have publicly celebrated and memorialized thus far, exploring big questions about the past, present, and future of our monuments. Monumental is produced by PRX Productions, PRX’s award-winning creative studio specializing in audio storytelling. The series is generously supported by the Mellon Foundation.