Racial reckoning turns focus to roadside historical markers

By MARK SCOLFORO
Associated Press

HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) — Pennsylvania is undertaking a comprehensive examination of the stories told by its 2,500 roadside historical markers. The state has undertaken a review of the markers, prompted in part by the 2017 racist violence in Charlottesville, Virginia. It’s a process that’s found factual errors, inadequate historical context and inappropriate references. So far the state has removed two markers, revised two and ordered new text for two others. Disputes about how historical markers should be worded — or whether they should exist at all — have divided communities across the country in recent years. In Pennsylvania, the new markers getting approved are increasingly telling the stories of previously underrepresented people and groups.