There's Uncle Jack -- way, way in the back of the Rural Life Museum.

Uncle Jack

Baton Rouge, Louisiana

The conflict surrounding some of America's Confederate monuments (and even some President statues) is not a new phenomenon; it was played out years ago with the tribute to "Uncle Jack," a still lingering artifact of historical controversy.

Why is he tipping his hat? Opinions differ.

The statue, depicting an elderly African-American bowing and tipping his hat, was sculpted by Hans Schuler and paid for by banker Jackson Lee Bryan. In 1927 it was erected in a riverfront park in the busiest part of downtown Natchitoches. Its original plaque read, "In Grateful Recognition of the Arduous and Faithful Service of the Good Darkies of Louisiana," and it was considered shockingly liberal for its time, at least by the standards of the Deep South. The New York Times and Boston Globe ran stories about the statue, praising the progressiveness of the white citizens of Natchitoches for erecting a monument to a negro. The statue became a bona-fide tourist attraction with its own post card. Its anonymous subject was variously named "The Good Darky," "The Faithful Darky," or simply "Uncle Jack."

Forty years passed. By the late 1960s the statue was no longer seen as liberal or progressive. It was removed by the city but saved from destruction by the daughter of Jackson Lee Bryan, who stored it in a barn. She then donated it to the LSU Rural Life Museum. According to its current plaque -- the old one was was removed -- the statue has stood on the museum grounds since September 1972, now accompanied by several signs explaining its history.

But not in its current spot. At first Uncle Jack greeted visitors at the museum entrance. Some felt that placing the statue at such a prominent spot sent the wrong message about the museum, so Uncle Jack was moved to his current location, way in the back, where no one can accidentally see him, and where most people will have to ask a museum employee to point the way.