Locating Slavery's Legacies @ Sewanee: The University of the South

Memorial Object

Plaque/Marker

Lost Cause

Gerry, Elbridge T.

Stone memorializing Elbridge T. Gerry

The “Walk of Fame” was created in 1929 by then president Hamilton Holt to honor significant historical figures.

Elbridge Gerry was honored with a stone in the Walk of Fame which is located around Mills Lawn of Rollins College. Based on Hamilton Holt's book on the Walk of Fame and the book The Walk of Fame: A Path of Many Memories, we can determine that his stone was placed between 1929 and 1939. Gerry’s stone came from the home of the “signer” in Cambridge, Massachusetts.

Elbridge Gerry was governor of Massachusetts, a member of the Constitutional Congress, a signer of the Declaration of Independence and the Articles of Confederation, and he was James Madison’s vice president.

Gerry was against slavery and did not own slaves himself. He actively resisted the three-fifths compromise that would count slaves as ⅗ of a person, giving more power to the southern states. Instead he thought they shouldn’t be accounted for at all.

His name is most notably tied to the manipulation of district lines referred to as gerrymandering. As governor of Massachusetts, Gerry signed a redistricting bill into law in 1812, which benefited his party in the upcoming elections. Although the original intent of gerrymandering was for the democratic-republicans to maintain control in the legislature, it has been used for decades since as a way to limit the political power of African Americans.

Gerrymandering allows for irregular shaped districts to be drawn, which politicians have used to group together predominantly African American neighborhoods. Therefore limiting their say and political power.

Holt, Hamilton

This is a rectangular stone that is 13”x10.5”. The stone itself is in decent condition and the inscription is easy to read.

ELBRIDGE T. 
GERRY
SIGNER OF THE
DECLARATION
CAMBRIDGE MASS

Holt, Hamilton
Rollins College

1939

1890-1945: Era of the Lost Cause, Jim Crow legal segregation and discrimination, and organized anti-Black racism

Walk of Fame

Rollins College; Winter Park, Florida

https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q219797

Gerry and gerrymandering

Gerrymandering

Biography