Reading the signs: using a qualitative Geographic Information System to examine the commemoration of slavery and emancipation on historical markers in Fredericksburg, Virginia

Until recently, narratives of slavery and emancipation have been absent from, or at best marginalized within, landscapes designed to commemorate colonial, antebellum, and Civil War history in Fredericksburg, Virginia, and most other places within the United States. As many scholars, journalists, and activists argue, the erasure of slavery, Jim Crow era segregation, and other race-based discrimination from national understandings of United States’ history continues to have a large and negative impact on efforts to understand and redress racial inequality. In this article, we argue that historical markers and monuments, as both elements within and interpretations of Fredericksburg’s commemorative landscape can be used to assess the extent to which slavery and emancipation have been integrated into the town’s collective memory. Since the locations as well as the content of these markers determine which past narratives are central and which are marginal, we use a qualitative Geographic Information System to perform content and discourse analyses on markers selected by their topics and locations. This approach enables us to critically examine both the presences and absences of slavery and emancipation in Fredericksburg’s commemorative landscape.