Descent of the Independent Man in 1975 not without controversy
Patrick T. Conley, historian laureate of Rhode Island, also was chairman of the Rhode Island Statehood Bicentennial Observance in 1990. The nationa...
Patrick T. Conley, historian laureate of Rhode Island, also was chairman of the Rhode Island Statehood Bicentennial Observance in 1990. The nationally divisive controversy over statues and monuments, here in Rhode Island over Christopher Columbus and Commodore Esek Hopkins, has forced me to confess that I took down Rhode Island's most famous monument — the Independent Man (with help, of course). Back in the mid-1970s, I was the volunteer chairman of the Rhode Island Bicentennial of Independence Commission (ri76).