Signs of the Times - Confederate and Civil War memorials
November 2014
Honoring the Confederacy: Confederate and Civil War memorials
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Following the recent posting of Uriah Fields' contempt for present-day vestiges of the Confederacy, John Loper asks, should we erase history or use it?

In response to our request for clarification of what he thinks ought to be done, Mr. Fields explains that in his view, the Confederacy should be treated like the Holocaust--and memorials like the statue of General Lee in Charlottesville should be taken down. He thinks that, as with the Holocaust, museums might be created.

At the 2012 Virginia Festival of the Book, City Council member Kristin Szakos asked civil war expert and former UVa professor Ed Ayers his opinion about whether the city should consider removing statues of confederate generals or balance them out with other statues. She cited public feeling against the prominent, heroic presentation of Lee and Jackson as no longer representing a modern, progressive Charlottesville.

Instead of tearing them down, Ayers said "We need to tell people where these statues come from." He said balancing statues is one option. Recently some towns have been memorializing figures from the Civil Rights struggle. He said that society should address such topics, though, "even if we don't know exactly what to say."

Just asking the question prompted outrage from many who feel that the city's Civil War statues are an important reminder of the area's history.

Doug Wilder's vision for a national slavery museum in Fredericksburg, Virginia, fell apart in 2011 after years of squabbling and mismanagement. There was talk of including a slavery museum in a redevelopment plan for the Shockoe area of Richmond (where a major slave market existed) but that plan has been pulled apart by local and state politics.

The Smithsonian is adding a National Museum of African American History and Culture, now under construction on the Mall in D.C. In Houston, there's a Buffalo Soldiers museum. There's a small Black History Museum and Cultural Center in Richmond, and the Leigh Street Armory in Jackson Ward is being refurbished to house an expanded version of it.

The old Tredegar Iron Works on the James in Richmond is now home to several permanent exhibitions combined into the American Civil War Center which attempts a nuanced view.

So the question remains, how should Charlottesville deal with public expressions of its history? There have been proposals over the years, and it seems to be time now to revive the discussion.

Dave Sagarin (November 9, 2014)


Comments? Questions? Write me at george@loper.org.