The claim that removing Confederate monuments erases American history fails to grasp an important distinction between statues in places of public … Removing Confederate statues is not an iconoclastic attack on American heritage, but the first step in a more truthful telling of American history. The erection and the destruction of monuments are facts in history, not history itself. Posted on August 18, 2017 by Aline Kaplan. Take the case of “Old Joe,” a Confederate statue originally displayed in Gainesville, Florida. The first to topple was the likeness of Jefferson Davis. A Confederate statue stands outside a Hillsborough County building, in Tampa, FL. What had begun as an expression of opposition to the removal of that statue, quickly turned violent and resulted in the death of a young woman. Toppled statue in Durham SC. An inspection crew takes measurements as they inspect the statue of Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee in Richmond, Virginia. A recent Quinnipiac University poll found that there are significantly more people who support removing Confederate statues from public spaces around the … That month I noticed a hashtag showing up on Twitter: #ErasingHistory. The condemnation of Confederate statues and monuments in the United States technically started the moment they began appearing shortly following the Civil War. County Commissioners are debating removing the statue. Eleven statues in the National Statuary Hall Collection commemorate Confederate soldiers and officials, including several in their Confederate uniforms. So here's the truth of how it emerged during the Civil War—and its meaning then and now. A history of confederate monuments, in one timeline.Subscribe to our channel! If you are a regular reader of Civil War Times, the Confederate battle flag is a familiar part of your world. Yet the smoldering debate was rekindled in 2015, when a Confederate-flag-promoting white supremacist murdered nine black church members in Charleston, South Carolina. By Maha Hilal Opinion Contributor Aug. 21, 2017, at 3:15 p.m. But while this particular design is in its early stages of being conceptualized, there are many monuments across the world that are being torn down. Why the Houston Museum of African American Culture Is Displaying a Confederate Statue The institution describes the move, which arrives amid a reckoning on the U.S.’ history … The history and future of Confederate monuments. Like dominoes, the Confederate statues along Richmond, Virginia’s historic Monument Avenue are coming down one by one. Confederate statues, which sentimentalise and glorify the “lost cause” of the civil war, were put up to bolster all that. You see conflicting numbers, but there seem to be about 1,500 Confederate monuments of some sort, statues and memorials, throughout the country. Chris O'Meara / AP Photo In announcing his decision to move the Castleman statue and another Confederate soldier statue in 2018, Fischer rejected the idea that moving them was an effort to erase history. The backdrop of Saturday's violence in Charlottesville, Virginia, was a plan to remove a statue of Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee from the city's downtown. The statues of Confederate government leaders Davis and Stephens came from Mississippi and Georgia, respectively, The rest of the 11 are lesser known figures from the states of Alabama, Arkansas, North Carolina, South Carolina, Louisiana, Florida, Mississippi and West Virginia. One statue is a tribute to Confederate General Robert E. Lee, whose image is the last remaining piece of Confederate iconography left standing on Richmond’s famous Monument Avenue. Re-Righting History: Why We Must Remove Confederate Statues Photo by Pixabay on Pexels.com Since the death of George Floyd, the Black Lives Matter movement (BLM) has been calling for a transformation of America — not just in terms of racism and how blacks are treated but also the revision of the American landscape. The history of the Confederate Flag is full of myth and hearsay. Each statue or set of statues is accompanied by a panel that informs the viewer about the work, its composition and the history of its display. As debate over the takedown of Confederate monuments continues, 60 Minutes examines why and when the statues went up in … Like Confederate statues and flags, Confederate Christmas ornaments strengthen this myth that the Confederacy—an entity built on white supremacy—was about southern “heritage.” What appears to be a nostalgic trip reminder, then, is in fact deeply implicated in a complex matrix of memory, history and racism in the United States. One of the issues raised by the recent—and appalling—neo-Nazi demonstration in Charlottesville, Virginia, is whether taking down Confederate statues of generals and soldiers constitutes erasing history. Confederate Statues, History, and Conflict. The vast majority of them were erected between 1890 and 1930, and so that means that the real building project of them doesn’t begin until fully 25 years after the end of the war. As in, removing Confederate statues was a way to erase our country’s history. The events in Charlottesville, Virginia, Saturday stirred a long simmering debate about Confederate statues, with many people demanding their removal and many arguing history should not be … Confederate Statues Aren't About History They serve to valorize white violence that colors America's racist past – and present. The Confederate statues were put up when they were put up [not just after the war but largely during periods of Civil Rights tension in the 20th century], to send a message about white supremacy, and to sentimentalize people who had actively fought to preserve the system of slavery. In 2020, in particular, there has been an uprising of concerns over confederate statues in the United States that celebrate individuals with complicated and increasingly problematic histories. While there is a lot of discussion these days about statues in the public square, it is important to note that taking down Confederate statues does not actually erase history. The second problem with the “war on history” argument is that these statues are barely historical. I t has been nearly three years since a confrontation between white supremacists and counter-protestors took place in Charlottesville, Virginia, over the removal of a statue of Confederate General Robert E. Lee. 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