Overview
As a building,Tillman Hall has become synonymous with Clemson University over the many generations since the institution began. Even today,it is a must for Clemson students to take ring ceremony and graduation pictures in front of the famous Clemson landmark, despite the current controversy over its namesake. It is a historic marker on Clemson’s campus, with a conflicting past. When Clemson College opened its doors to the fresh cadets in 1889, Tillman Hall was then known as the Main Building and would remain so until 1946.
If the Main Building had such an attachment to Clemson’s Campus, why did Clemson’s various committees choose to rename it in 1946? Heritage had something to do with it. If you do a basic google search of what heritage means you will get “property that is or may be inherited;an inheritance”. In this sense it is making it seem that heritage can only be inanimate objects, but it can also mean a memory that has been passed down through the generations of a particular place.
According to Michael Kammen in his book, Mystic Chords of Memory, post WWII Americans began to focus more intently on their heritage. The famous magazine American Heritage made its debut in 1947 and did immensely well, showing that the American public were infatuated with staying connected to their roots. This “heritage syndrome” permeated all societies in America and led to people bringing events and people from the past to glorify in the present. David Lowenthal notes in his book The Heritage Crusade, that heritage can link people through identity and create strong bonds. Lowenthal states that heritage clarifies the past so it can infuse it with the present purposes of society. The act of bringing people from the past into the present’s focus is a way for people to become connected and feel a strong sense of nostalgia. It can be a very powerful symbol for a group of people,but it also can have a downside.(Lowenthal xiii).
Heritage can be oppressive, defeatist, and decadent(Lowenthal xiii). The people who chose to focus on this past heritage can be blinded by their emotions and not see that their glorification of something can be harmful to others. David Lowenthal also notes that ignorance , like distance, protects heritage from scrutiny. This is a significant fact because it shows that the people’s ignorance of something or someone in history can be the reason why negative heritage goes unchecked for so long. It is important to understand heritage in a nuanced way, so a person won’t be blinded to negative aspects of the object of that heritage. The heritage that was once praised by people in a society can be scorned and defamed because of the current people's understanding of the event or person that is being represented. The heritage on Clemson’s campus is no different.