Stone memorializing Lillian Gish
Item
- Legacies Classification
- Memorial Type
- Memorial Context
- Memorialized Subject
- Title
- Background and Context
- Physical Description
- Memorial Inscription
- Creator/Participating Person(s)
- Date created, installed or dedicated
- Funded by
- Campus Location
- Location: Institution, City, State
- Learn More About this Subject
-
Memorial Object
-
Plaque/Marker
-
Gish, Lillian
-
Stone memorializing Lillian Gish
-
This memorial was previously part of Rollins College’s Walk of Fame, a semicircular walkway featuring stones sourced from locations associated with notable historical figures or sites. The stones feature inscriptions identifying its origin and/or the memorialized subject associated with it. The Walk of Fame was started in 1929 by former Rollins College President Hamilton Holt, who collected many of the initial stones during trips. The initial intent of the walk was to “display people who changed history, for better or worse,” but its purpose has been reinterpreted over the years, with current interpretations urging that the walk contain the stones of people who “Rollins want[s] to lift up and celebrate the people who… identified with [the college’s] values.”
Lillian Gish was a renowned American actress and her career spanned from 1912 to 1987. One of the most well-known films that she starred in was The Birth of a Nation, in which she plays Elsie Stoneman. The creation of The Birth of a Nation was informed by the creation of the ‘lost cause’ myth and key in perpetuating racist stereotypes and a biased vision of the causes and consequences of the Civil War. Little is recorded about Gish’s personal opinions regarding the subject of the film but she defended the creator and director of The Birth of a Nation, D.W. Griffith, in her autobiography Lillian Gish: The movies, Mr. Griffith, and me.
In 1954, Lillian Gish received an honorary degree from Rollins College. A couple of days later on February 24th, she and the president of Rollins College, Dr. Hugh F. McKean, set the memorial stone in the Walk of Fame.
-
Stone with inscribed name of Lillian Gish, Size: 13in X 12in
-
Lillian Gish
-
Gish, Lillian
-
McKean, Hugh F.
-
February 24, 1954
-
Rollins College
Position: 846 (88 views)