Statue of Kate Smith

Statue of Kate Smith
The statue in 2017
Map
ArtistMarc Mellon
Year1987 (1987)
MediumBronze sculpture
SubjectKate Smith
LocationPhiladelphia, Pennsylvania, U.S.
Coordinates39°54′15.59″N 75°10′9.73″W / 39.9043306°N 75.1693694°W / 39.9043306; -75.1693694

A statue of singer Kate Smith (1907–1986) by Marc Mellon[1][2] was installed outside Philadelphia's Xfinity Live!, in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania, until 2019.[3]

Description and history

The 8-foot (2.4 m) bronze sculpture was commissioned by the Philadelphia Flyers and unveiled on October 8, 1987.[4] It was placed into storage in 2010 because of the demolition of the Spectrum arena.[5]

On April 21, 2019, the statue was removed due to the controversy of some her renditions of songs such as "That's Why Darkies Were Born" and "Pickaninny Heaven". Her family responded by denying the allegations and argued that Paul Robeson popularized some of those songs.[6]

See also

References

  1. ^ "The Philadelphia Flyers plan to erect..." Chicago Tribune. 7 June 1987. Retrieved 2020-06-11.
  2. ^ Tornoe, Rob (19 April 2019). "Flyers cover Kate Smith statue, dump 'God Bless America' over past racist songs". The Philadelphia Inquirer. Archived from the original on 2020-07-06. Retrieved 2020-06-11.
  3. ^ "Kate Smith statue removed, Flyers ax her 'God Bless America' after racist songs come to light". NBC Sports Philadelphia. 2019-04-19. Archived from the original on 2020-06-11. Retrieved 2020-06-11.
  4. ^ Winkler, Sheldon (2019-05-08). The Music of World War II: War Songs and Their Stories. Lulu.com. ISBN 978-0-359-64779-8. Archived from the original on 2020-06-14. Retrieved 2020-06-11.
  5. ^ "Kate Smith Goes Into Storage As Spectrum Demolition Nears". 2010-10-28. Archived from the original on 2015-09-23. Retrieved 2020-06-11.
  6. ^ Levenson, By Doug Criss, Jill Martin and Eric (2019-04-21). "The Philadelphia Flyers remove a statue of Kate Smith over her racist songs". CNN. Archived from the original on 2021-08-18. Retrieved 2021-10-18.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)


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