Virginia Will Take Down Massive Statue Of Robert E. Lee This Week

Topline

Virginia officials plan to remove a statue of Confederate general Robert E. Lee that has towered 60 feet above the state capital of Richmond for over a century on Wednesday, ending months of legal acrimony, the latest Confederate monument to face removal.

Key Facts

Crucial Quote

“This is an important step in showing who we are and what we value as a commonwealth,” Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam (D) said in a statement.

Key Background

The Lee statue was placed in Richmond — which served as the Confederacy’s capital city — in 1890, preceding a nationwide surge of Confederate monument-building in the early 20th century, especially in states gripped by overt racial segregation. Locals have called for the statue’s removal for years, and Northam pushed to take down the monument in June 2020, amid a wave of racial justice protests prompted by the police killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis. Northam was hit by a pair of lawsuits from plaintiffs who argued a property deed and state law from the 19th century barred the governor from removing the statue, but the state Supreme Court affirmed Northam’s power to take down the monument last week, allowing him to move forward with the removal.

Tangent

State and local governments have pushed for years to remove Confederate statues, which many critics have castigated as celebrations of white supremacy. This process sped up last year. Charleston removed a statue of pro-slavery South Carolina Sen. John C. Calhoun in June 2020, Richmond removed statues of Confederate general Stonewall Jackson and several of his contemporaries last summer, and Tennessee removed a bust of Confederate general and Ku Klux Klan leader Nathan Bedford Forrest from its state capitol six weeks ago. Plus, Charlottesville, Virginia, removed statues of Lee and Jackson in mid-July, four years after an initial proposal to take down the Lee statue fueled a violent white nationalist rally in the city.