Maya Lin and the Vietnam Memorial

Hello, Feminist Friday fans! This post might look a little different than previous posts. I won’t be focusing so much on a person (although you’ll learn plenty about her), it’s more about a moment in time. In planning my blog posts, I sometimes like to look at what holidays or national days will be happening on the day of posting to help me decide who to write about. This post will be going up on 11/11, or Veteran’s Day. This inspired me to share a story I recently learned about that really ties into the theme of the day. This was the story of an important monument, and the young Asian woman who faced misogyny and racism to get it built: Maya Lin.

Growing Up

Maya Lin was born in Athens, OH in 1959 to Chinese emigrants Henry Huan Lin and Julia Chang Lin. Lin’s half-aunt (her father’s half-sister), Lin Huiyin, is said to be the first female architect of modern China. Lin herself was a solitary child; she stated that she preferred studying to going out. No surprise, since both her parents, were employed by Ohio University (Henry was dean of the College of Fine Arts, and Julia was a professor of Literature). She graduated from high school in 1977, and went to Yale, first obtaining a Bachelor of Arts degree, then a Master of Architecture. It is when she was working on her undergraduate degree that she rocketed to fame; all because of a school assignment.

Contest Winner!

In 1981, when Lin was still working on her Bachelor’s degree, there was an announcement that the Vietnam Veteran’s Memorial Fund was sponsoring a contest to create a memorial to the soldiers of the Vietnam War. Lin discovered this contest while deciding on a class project, and thought, ‘here’s a great idea for a project!’ She actually didn’t originally plan on entering. Lin went to D.C. to check out the plot of land selected for the monument, and inspiration struck. Part of the contest guidelines was that it must include the names of all the soldiers killed in action in Vietnam (at that time almost 58,000; over 400 names have been added since then), and she realized she wanted something that would reflect the loss and pain of war on a personal level; to acknowledge that these men and women gave their lives and would not be coming back. In Lin’s words: “I had an impulse to cut open the earth. I imagined cutting into the earth and polishing its open sides, like a geode.” Her idea included two slabs of black granite rising from the ground, creating a V shape whose two ends would point to the Lincoln Memorial and the Washington Monument. There would be no frills and fanfare; this was meant to showcase the stark reality of war.

As an assignment, her project got a B. Solid grade, but nothing to write home about. However, out of 1,421 contest submissions, Lin’s won (she even beat out the same professor who gave the project a B)!

Opposition and Compromise

Lin’s proposed memorial was not without controversy. First, many people didn’t care for the minimalist design. We Americans love our flashy statues, grand monuments, and imposing architecture, don’t we? People were also put off by the black color; it was seen as depressing. A group of Vietnam Veterans even protested the monument, saying that it was like “spitting on the graves” of those who had died. I would imagine that the country’s treatment of soldiers who fought in Vietnam made those vets a little nihilistic. (If you don’t know, Vietnam was not a “popular” war. Many Americans were opposed to our presence, and unlike previous wars, the soldiers were not greeted with parades and confetti; more often they were harassed and spit on. I’ll take this moment to say that while CAISA/SACIS never condone violence and/or war, we also don’t believe in the maltreatment of anyone. This situation was really complex, and honestly, this blog post is not the appropriate venue to really delve into those complexities.)

And that was just what was said before Lin’s identity was revealed. You see, the contest had been judged blind, meaning the judges chose the monument solely on the proposal, with no idea of who created it. When people found out that a young, non-professional, Asian woman had designed the memorial, whoo boy, people lost it! She was harassed for her age, her race, and her gender. I’d love to say, hey, it was the 80s, what can you do? But let’s be honest; this nonsense would probably happen if the same contest happened today. Ross Perot was actually set to donate $160,000 to the building of the memorial, but when he found out that a young Asian woman was the designer, he withdrew the money, calling Lin an “egg roll”. So the VWMF tried to get Lin to compromise: let’s add a bronze statue of a soldier holding a flag, and let’s make that granite white. Lin, in a show of courage and awesomeness, said, uhhh, NO! So she was forced to defend her design in front of Congress. Luckily, Congress saw what she was going for, and the compromise was amended: to the side of Lin’s design would be the soldier statue that everyone seemed to want, but the design of the memorial itself would stay the same.

The monument was finished in 1982 and on November 13th of that year, a celebration was held to dedicate the memorial; 10,000 veterans came to see the memorial that had caused such a fuss. Granite from Bangalore, India was chosen for its reflective properties, and because of this, something incredible happened. As the soldiers stepped up, they saw their faces reflected in the names of their fallen fellows. This created a powerful moment for many people, soldiers and civilians alike. And this memorial, which was fought tooth and nail, is one of the most popular destinations in the United States today, with more than 5 million visitors a year.

Body of Work

Lin has gone on to be one of the most prolific designers in the World. Many of her artistic art and architecture focus on environmentalism, such as her earthwork (art created using landscaping) Wave Field; The Kentucky Line, an earth drawing, and her massive multimedia series What is Missing, an exploration of endangered places and species, with pieces found throughout the world. Her architecture includes the Langston Hughes Library in Tennessee, the Museum of Chinese in America in New York, and the Box House in Colorado. The Vietnam Memorial is not the only memorial she has designed, either! She is responsible for The Civil Rights Memorial in Montgomery, Alabama, and The Women’s Table at Yale University. Due to her body of work, in 2016, President Barak Obama awarded her the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the highest civilian honor in the United States

Conclusion

Listen, I’m not here to debate or decide if the Vietnam War was right or wrong. What I am here to say is that Lin’s work on the Vietnam Memorial has shaped the creation of monuments for 40 years now. The memorial itself has brought comfort to millions. But its creation almost didn’t happen, thanks to racism and misogyny. Luckily for us, the haters were shut down and shut up, and we have this incredible memorial that honors those who gave their lives. So Maya Lin, for fighting to see your vision through, and shaping the memorial game for years to come, we honor you!

Sources:

Maya Lin Studio: https://www.mayalinstudio.com/

History, “This 21-Year-Old College Student Designed the Vietnam Veterans Memorial”: https://www.history.com/news/the-21-year-old-college-student-who-designed-the-vietnam-memorial

Vietnam Veterans Memorial Fund, “Maya Lin”: https://www.vvmf.org/About-The-Wall/history-of-the-vietnam-veterans-memorial/Maya-Lin/

Academy of Achievement, “Maya Lin”: https://achievement.org/achiever/maya-lin/#interview

Drunk History, “Maya Lin Designs the Vietnam Veterans Memorial”: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GYTFGaggJYo

(Don’t judge my choices; the history is shockingly accurate!)