The Ugliest Confederate Statue in the World: Jack Kershaw, Pt. 1
Weird Little Guys
iHeartPodcasts and Cool Zone Media
4.6 • 1.1K Ratings
🗓️ 2 April 2026
⏱️ 42 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Jack Kershaw created his most famous piece of art in his 80s. His lifelong passion for the arts had to take a backseat when he shifted his focus to becoming a professional racist during the fight against integration. He was doing it for his confederate ancestors, he would often say. But he was never very specific about who exactly his ancestors were...
The It Could Happen Here episode mentioned, originally aired 2/22/2024 -
https://open.spotify.com/episode/1ZQAqsxImsNGQUTzHGKhNp
Sources:
https://thesewaneepurple.org/2021/03/23/polk-sculpture-donated-by-white-supremacist-jack-kershaw/
https://thesewaneepurple.org/2021/03/22/polk-sculpture-removed-by-student-taken-to-archives/
https://meridiana.sewanee.edu/2022/04/30/a-year-later-a-letter-of-explanation/
https://www.moca.org/collection/work/unmanned-drone
https://religiondispatches.org/2025/10/28/swords-plowshares
https://segregationinamerica.eji.org/report/confederate-icongraphy.html
https://wpln.org/post/even-as-statue-forrest-still-draws-fire/
https://www.upi.com/Archives/1982/03/30/Ray-says-lawyer-hid-Playboy-fee/1722386312400/
The Late Show With Stephen Colbert, August 2017
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LvCjM1lPwg4
Last Week Tonight With John Oliver, October 2017
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J5b_-TZwQ0I
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | This is an IHeart podcast. |
| 0:02.5 | Guaranteed human. |
| 0:04.4 | No gloss, no filter. |
| 0:07.4 | Just stories. |
| 0:09.1 | Spoken without fear. |
| 0:10.9 | Person who is not generous can not be an artist. |
| 0:13.8 | The world will be at peace only when it is ruled by poets and philosophers. |
| 0:18.4 | Listen to my weekly podcast, the Pooja Abhawad show |
| 0:21.1 | and the IHeart Radio app, |
| 0:22.9 | Apple Podcasts, |
| 0:24.2 | or wherever you get your podcasts. |
| 0:27.4 | Come for the honesty. |
| 0:29.2 | Stay for the fire. |
| 0:34.9 | QuarZo Media. |
| 0:50.9 | One morning in March of 2021, a small statue, one morning in March of 2021, a small statue disappeared from a library on the campus of the University of the South in Suwannee, Tennessee. |
| 0:57.2 | The bust of the university's founder, Confederate General Leonidas Polk, |
| 1:01.0 | had been sitting on a shelf in the library for nearly 70 years. |
| 1:04.8 | And then one morning, it was just gone. |
| 1:15.1 | It reappeared 24 hours later, undamaged and wrapped in a shopping bag, left on the porch outside of the university archives. |
| 1:23.2 | The student who left it there also left a note, explaining that they'd taken the bus down because they could, quote, |
| 1:28.7 | "'No longer sit by while these symbols of white supremacy stare over my and my fellow students' shoulders as we pursue our education. The note continued, |
| 1:33.9 | I have no desire to destroy or damage the bust and plaque as that would sweep its history |
... |
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