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Articles on Confederate Monuments

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Demonstrators hold Confederate flags near the monument for Confederacy President Jefferson Davis on June 25, 2015, in Richmond, Va., after it was spray-painted with the phrase ‘Black Lives Matter.’ AP Photo/Steve Helber

When Confederate-glorifying monuments went up in the South, voting in Black areas went down

The drive to remove Confederate monuments links those monuments to modern racism. An economic historian shows that the intent and effect of those monuments from inception was to perpetuate racism.
Maj. Gen. George H. Thomas, who fought for the Union army during the Civil War, stands in uniform for a photo. Heritage Images/ Hulton Archive

US Army Maj. Gen. George H. Thomas’ journey from enslaver to Union officer to civil rights defender

A Southerner, Maj. Gen. George H. Thomas was a racist enslaver before the Civil War. But he fought for the Union because he prioritized his oath to defend the Constitution over state interests.
Huntsville reveres hometown hero Sam Houston. And he did not revere the Confederacy. Jimmy Henderson/flickr

Texas distorts its past – and Sam Houston’s legacy – to defend Confederate monuments

Texas’ most famous statesman, Sam Houston, was a slave owner who opposed the Confederacy. But white Texans tend to omit his dissent in current debates over removing Confederate markers.
The Mississippi state flag, with a representation of the Confederate battle flag, is raised one last time over the state Capitol building on July 1, 2020. AP Photo/Rogelio V. Solis

Hit ’em where it hurts – how economic threats are a potent tool for changing people’s minds about the Confederate flag

Public officials and individual citizens alike are more likely to oppose the presence of Confederate symbols when informed it may be bad for local business.
Protesters at the Richmond, Virginia monument to Confederate General Robert E. Lee on June 18, 2020. Zach D Roberts/NurPhoto via Getty Images

African Americans have long defied white supremacy and celebrated Black culture in public spaces

Protests of Confederate flags and monuments have grown since 2015, but resistance is not new. African Americans have been protesting against Confederate monuments since they were erected.
Richmond’s towering Robert E. Lee statue is transformed by protests following the killing of George Floyd. Is removal next? John McDonnell/The Washington Post via Getty Images

Dead white men get their say in court as Virginia tries to remove Robert E. Lee statues

On June 19, a court will decide whether Virginia must obey a 1890 deed that gave the state a plot of prime Richmond land as long as it would ‘faithfully guard’ the Robert E. Lee statue erected there.
A damaged Confederate statue lies on a pallet in a warehouse in Durham, N.C. on Tuesday, Aug. 15, 2017, after protesters yanked it off its pedestal in front of a government building. AP Photo/Allen Breed

A Confederate statue graveyard could help bury the Old South

Where do old Confederate statues go when they die? The former Soviet bloc countries could teach the US something about dealing with monuments from a painful past.
The Fort Hood military base in Killeen, Texas. AP Photo/ Tamir Kalifa

10 US military bases are named after Confederate generals

In scrutinizing statues honoring Confederate figures, journalists have overlooked military bases named after generals who fought to defend the slavery of black people.
Protesters toppled the ‘Silent Sam’ Confederate statue on Aug. 20 at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Gerry Broome/AP

Tearing down Confederate statues leaves structural racism intact

Toppling statues devoted to Confederate soldiers may be a joyous moment for protesters who fight white supremacy, but after the statues fall, structural racism remains, a scholar on slavery argues.
‘Early Days.’ Detail of Frank Happersberger’s pioneer monument, San Francisco, California, 1894. Photo by Lisa Allen. Cynthia Prescott

Think Confederate monuments are racist? Consider pioneer monuments

Many cities are removing their Confederate statues. But pioneer monuments represent a racist past, too. There are at least 200 of them, and their future is now being debated.
Aboriginal dancers from Pinjarra perform at the unveiling of the counter-memorial in Esplanade Park, Fremantle, April 9 1994. Courtesy Bruce Scates

Monumental errors: how Australia can fix its racist colonial statues

A Fremantle monument to three white explorers was revised in 1994 to acknowledge the violence committed against Indigenous owners. As Australia struggles to reconcile its racist past, perhaps this monument shows a way forward.
Did Trump’s rhetoric played a part in radicalizing the far-right protesters in Charlottesville? AP Photo/Steve Helber

Charlottesville and the politics of fear

Trump is a master of using anger to motivate his base. An anti-terrorism researcher explains how to stem the tide.
The Robert E. Lee statue for which the ‘Unite the Right’ rally was organized to protest its removal in Charlottesville, Virginia. EPA/TASOS KATOPODIS

From Charlottesville to Nazi Germany, sometimes monuments have to fall

The violence sparked by the removal of Confederate statues in the US shows the ideas that collect around historical monuments. Sometimes it’s better to remove them; yet they can be an important way of remembering trauma.

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