Haymarket Memorial

More on the Haymarket, tangentially

From the Guardian

Chicago Police Union Upset by Park Plans

Monday March 22, 2004 1:31 PM

CHICAGO (AP) -

The police union is protesting a proposal to name a small Northwest Side park in honor of a 19th century activist whose husband was hanged for his purported role in the notorious 1886 Haymarket Square bombing.

In a letter to Chicago Park District board members, Chicago Federation of Police president Mark P. Donohue said he was ``disappointed and disheartened'' by plans to name the park after Lucy Ella Gonzales Parsons.
...
On May 4, 1886, a bomb was thrown during a labor rally at Haymarket Square, touching off a riot, and police officers opened fire on the crowd. Seven officers and four other people were killed, by one count.

The Haymarket Affair shifted the course of the labor movement by discrediting politically radical unions.

Parsons' husband, Albert, was one of eight anarchists tried for the bombing. Incendiary labor pamphlets written by Lucy Parsons were read into the record at the trial.

Four defendants, including Albert Parsons, were hanged in 1887; a fifth had committed suicide the night before. The three others were pardoned several years later by Gov. John Peter Altgeld, who concluded that their trial had been a miscarriage of justice.

A parks spokesman said Lucy Parsons' name was suggested by a historian in honor of her long work as a labor organizer and champion of women and minority group members.

``She wasn't named because she was Albert Parsons' wife,'' said parks spokesman Julian Green. ``Lucy Parsons promoted women's labor and civil rights in Chicago. She was highly regarded by Jane Addams and other social reformers.''

I wonder if the police department had to sign off on the new Haymarket Sq. memorial? (a large picture of the plans can be found here, and a photo of the current memorial I took a couple years ago is here). I wouldn't be surprised if the new Haymarket Square memorial is abstract because this would be easier to get approvals?