Uncomfortable Oxford tell us about the false history of an iconic artefact.
This April Fools’ Day, museums across Oxford are taking the opportunity to highlight fakes and frauds hidden in their collections. However, one piece of deceptive history sits in plain view in Oxford to anyone who passes along South Parks Road. This is the Zimbabwe Bird statue atop Rhodes House, headquarters of the world-famous Rhodes Scholarship. For a generation, this bird was the crowning symbol of the racial hierarchy put forward by arch-colonialist Cecil Rhodes. However, when the truth was uncovered, it turned out to be a refutation of everything he stood for.
