De-Venerating Richmond’s Confederate symbols
Here’s a list of all the ways the City still honors individuals who symbolize hate to many, many people. What does it all mean, and how can we move forward from here?
By Susan Howson & Ross Catrow
Every day, the RVANews staff climbs the steps to our office within the Stonewall Jackson Professional Building, which lies a few blocks from Stuart Circle, which lies a few blocks from…well, the list goes on and on. You could spend hours using a Richmond map to play connect-the-dots with places, streets, and, of course, statues that not just memorialize but honor a few individuals that literally and figuratively led the charge in favor of enslaving human beings.
Yet several months ago, we (along with so many others) decried the existence of an anti-gay billboard. We opposed the erection of a giant Confederate battle flag over I-95, and we are always, always quick to point out sexism wherever and whenever we can.
But here we are, in the Stonewall Jackson Professional Building, thinking we’re pretty progressive.
Have we just become used to the sight of these streets on a map, these schools in our neighborhoods, and these statues we drive around? Do we really want them mixed in with the pride we take in our city? Or are they valuable because they start conversations about our oft-problematic history, as many have argued?
For these aren’t just meaningless names of schools or streets. Nobody shrugged their shoulders and said “Semmes, that sounds like a cool name.” No, they said “We should honor Raphael Semmes, Confederate naval superstar, by naming this street after him.” These were conscious decisions, often made in other times of troubling racial tension, to make statements. They reached back into the past and brought forward a guy who stood for something instead of lots of other guys and gals who stood for lots of other things. Semmes Avenue is intentional. Stonewall Jackson’s monument is intentional. J.E.B. Stuart Elementary School is intentional.
If in 2015, we wouldn’t erect a monument, name a street, or christen a building in honor of a man whose name is synonymous with hate and racial violence, why do we allow those names to remain honored in 2015? Perhaps it’s because we associate them with the other things we love about the South–peach pies, sweet tea, chirping crickets, our river, our pace, our way of life. And those things are amazing. But they will still exist no matter what Jefferson Davis Highway is called.
As media, we face another dilemma. In our industry, it’s good timing right now to cover this issue. Charleston is on everyone’s minds, and our job is to give national news a platform on which we relate it to Richmond, and we want to talk about what Richmonders want to read about. But it’s also bad timing because we run the risk of contributing to the problem that’s incensing people we respect, like Marc Cheatham–we can’t just take down Confederate flags and pat ourselves on the back for having dealt with the race question once and for all.
But does that mean we should appear–and emphasis on “appear” here–to celebrate these symbols? Is that the face we want to show the world? Or, maybe more importantly, is it how we want our fellow Richmond citizens to think about each other?
We’re positive it’s not. So what can we do to make sure we don’t project that image? Add more good, new things to try to outnumber the old? Move the offensive stuff to a museum? Get rid of it entirely? Sit in our living room with a blanket over our head and try to pretend like none of it’s happening? We personally just don’t know.
We’re working on some practical steps on our end. For instance, we’ll no longer select Picture of the Day or Instagram of the Day submissions that include anything that honors a Confederate figure. That’s just glorifying a glorification, which we’re not into.
Maybe as a community, we could consider petitioning the School Board to change J.E.B. Stuart Elementary School’s name or asking the City Council to change some street names (it could happen without altering any laws, see below). Perhaps we could petition our landlords to change the names of our buildings–we’ll start with ours. You never know, maybe he’ll be into it.
What will you do to help make sure this isn’t how the world sees us, and it isn’t how we see ourselves?
Below you’ll find an inventory of sorts of our city’s physical Confederate baggage. It’s not a complete list, but it’s instructive to see what exists and where. Below that you’ll find some quotes from people who are black, white, male, female, of different ages, origins, and professions. All that matters is that they’re Richmonders, and these are their thoughts on the matter.
Our Confederate inventory
J.E.B. Stuart Elementary School
Established in 1921, J.E.B. Elementary School on the North Side seems like low-hanging fruit on the name-changing tree.
Roads
Of Confederate-named roadways, we’ve got about eight that make up 16.1 miles of City’s 1,320 miles–that’s 1.2% of mileage With commonplace names like Stuart, Lee, and Davis, it’s hard to know which roads are named for which guy. For example: Mosby Street may not be named after John S. Mosby and Stuart Avenue might be named for J.E.B. Stuart.
- Jefferson Davis Highway
- Maury Street
- Semmes Avenue
- Mosby Street
- Stonewall Avenue
- Davis Avenue
- Confederate Avenue
- Stuart Circle
If we wanted to get some of the names of streets and schools and buildings changed, the city code outlines the requirements. Note that “discriminatory or derogatory names from the point of view of race, sex, color, creed, political affiliation or other social factors, shall be avoided.”
Monuments
Most of this list was pulled from the super useful and super interesting Richmond on the James Blog where Phil Riggan has done yeoman’s work cataloging our city’s statues–Confederate or otherwise.
- Stonewall Jackson — Capitol Square (1875)
- Robert E. Lee — Monument & Allen (1890)
- William Carter Wickham — Monroe Park (1891)
- A.P. Hill — Laburnum & Hermitage (1892)
- Richmond Howitzers (1892)
- William “Extra Billy” Smith — Capitol Square (1906)
- J.E.B. Stuart — Monument & Lombardy (1907)
- Jefferson Davis — Monument & Davis (1907)
- Stonewall Jackson — Monument & Boulevard (1919)
- Matthew Fontaine Maury — Monument & Belmont (1929)
- Fitzhugh Lee — Monroe Park (1955)
What Some Richmonders Think
These views belong to each individual, personally, and do not necessarily represent those of their organization.
Evandra Catherine, VCU Department of African-American Studies
At the end of the day, we have to understand our history so we can grow from it and heal. The history of blacks was told from a different perspective, but what we get is a situation where we’re only getting one side of the story, and that story is very painful, and that’s really because the extra piece of history isn’t there…
Getting rid of these monuments and symbols is problematic because if it’s not there and you don’t see it, it might not spark conversation. It needs to be a healing that happens together. Blacks healing together, whites healing together. How can we heal together if we don’t come around these symbols and things and talk about them? How did this person’s presence impact all people? …
Let’s have a dialogue, let’s talk about these things, come on. Let’s talk about it together and understand each other. Let me not think that because you have a Confederate flag on your shirt that you think I’m inferior to you, but maybe that you wear it because you have a great-grandfather who lost his life in the war…
I don’t want to get to a point in this country where we take all these symbols down and stop having conversations about them.
Ana Edwards, Defenders of Freedom, Justice, and Equality
I was born and raised in LA, but in my ancestry, my people did come out of Virginia. In fact, we were part of the enslaved population that was sold out of Virginia. Living a contemporary life as an African-American person–I’ve been here 27 years–my first impressions coming here were that I felt like I was stepping into a movie that was based in the Civil War era. Driving around the city of Richmond, it’s been reinforced over and over again by people who have moved here form other places, in conversation with other black people. Richmond is a Confederate memorial…
Richmond’s history is vast, it’s rich, it’s deep, it’s complicated, and we are so much more than that. The heart of the conflict of the entire American story can been told here…
To me, there’s elements of both sadness and hope. We would like Richmond to reflect much more of this history, [right now,] it’s a very very narrow perspective. The fact that it’s literally the central landscape of the UCI race–this is what they’re showing off!…
What’s happened in Charleston most recently is not the only example, but it has provided the catalyst be willing to be vocal.
We should be considering moving these symbols into archival and museum places.
It’s very easy to use the thing that creates the most response in the public. In a way, I totally understand and am sympathetic, you have all these public officials who are finally ready to pull down the flag and stop selling memorabilia, and they’re not going to take the same energy to look at how we address racism in our communities. That legacy has been the economic and social disenfranchisement of black people in this country. Those concrete institutionalized problems have to be addressed.
It’s not that I’m advocating for the utter removal of all traces of this history–in a way, we’re talking about a balance. In Richmond, the dominant landscape is that landscape. We believe that there’s that emphasis, and we believe in thinking of Richmond’s identity as much larger than that…
Richmond is overdue, we need to do it. We’re doing it now. We have a unique opportunity, if, during an event like the Worlds race, that we can show Richmond that not only are we acknowledging that this needs to be relegated to history. We should expand how we show our history to include the origins of the development of the US or our relationship to Indian history. If we can show that to the world during the UCI bike race, then we can show the world that we are a smart, compassionate, progressive city.
Anedra Bourne, Tourism Coordinator for the City of Richmond
I do think that Richmond is known for history of various periods, not solely of Civil War history, but obviously with the sesquicentennial coming to an end, that conversation has been elevated in a very real, comprehensive way to be more inclusive of a true American history that related to the northern perspective, the African-American history.
I think people have been able to embrace the other sides of history that they had not had before–the good, the bad, the ugly.
I think people take [the symbolism and imagery] for what it is and are eager to learn more about portions of any kind of history…
Would that change the conversation [if certain moveable symbols were moved to a museum]? The history behind them still exists. Would that really change the conversation? I don’t know.
But I think Richmond is an evolving city. History’s almost more the backdrop now to the up-and-coming pieces of what we have to offer the destination. Until items of national significance come about to rehash or reevaluate the history, I don’t think it’s as much a part of our daily dialogue [as it used to be].
Bill Martin, Director, The Valentine Museum
Places like the Valentine and VHS and American History museum and National Parks are where those conversations should happen, and Richmond has these great institutions to help in that conversation. We’ve got great collections that would support the conversations and the research that inform our opinions. All of us have an important responsibility and role in how we portray conversations about our history.
Tag Christof, Art Director – Editorial — Need Supply
I’m from an old Spanish family in New Mexico, a place with its own deep scars from regional conflict and a strange relationship with American culture at large–through battles and annexations, we not only lost our “country,” we lost our language and most of our identity in the process. So, in some way, I empathize with the deep sense of cultural loss that permeates discourse about the South among some Southerners.
However, I believe that veneration of the Confederacy in 2015 is unequivocally wrong. It is impossible to separate even the most romantic ideas about it from an endorsement of slavery and racism, and with rising racial tensions across the country there is very little room to interpret honoring staunch “Confederate guys” as anything other than grossly insensitive. Even Robert E. Lee became a pragmatist after the war.
Instead of clinging to a cause that once united the South for antiquated reasons, many of which are appalling in retrospect, one would hope that it is time for new symbols and new common causes that celebrate and unite its deep, rich culture in much more inclusive ways.
Tiffany Jana, Founder & CEO — TMI Consulting
I grew up in Germany, and we had to learn about the Holocaust every single year. We visited concentration camps annually and even as small children, we were not shielded from the horrific reality of genocide. When I returned to the US school system, slavery was about one paragraph in a history class–and it didn’t sound all that bad. We have yet to have an open, honest national dialogue about the reality of our painful history and the implications on contemporary society.
Confederate symbols serve as a reminder that the racial disparities that plague every health, wealth, and progress indicator of a civilized society–are all out of balance by design. We live in the United States of its founders’ creation. I am all for honoring history and heritage, but not at the expense of the already marginalized. I suggest relocating all of the confederate trophies and symbols from Monument Avenue and elsewhere to a contained district where they can be memorialized and visited by people who wish to honor their heritage, and out of sight from the general population. I do not believe that Richmond, or any other US city, benefits from glorifying any part of our history that we cannot be universally proud of. These symbols divide us at a time when we need unity more than ever.
What some non-Richmonders think
Barack Obama, President of the United States
Progress is real, we have to take hope from that progress, but what is also real is that the march isn’t over, and the work is not yet completed. And then our job is, in very concrete ways, to try and figure out what more can we do?
Jeb Bush, 2016 Presidential Candidate, via his Facebook page
My position on how to address the Confederate flag is clear. In Florida, we acted, moving the flag from the state grounds to a museum where it belonged.
Michael Jackson, King of Pop
I’m starting with the man in the mirror. I’m asking him to change his ways. And no message could have been any clearer. If you want to make the world a better place. Take a look at yourself and then make that change!
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Notice: Comments that are not conducive to an interesting and thoughtful conversation may be removed at the editor’s discretion.
THIS IS ONE MAJOR PIECE OF WORK HERE, YOU GUYS!
OH EMM GEE.
now let me take a second and really chew before i swallow. i gulped the heck out of this article. so impressive. so good. props.
I know of about five streets you missed that were named for Confederate figures. I’ll let you guys continue down that rabbit hole.
Don’t forget to change the name of Ginter Park and the Lewis Ginter Botanical Gardens – Lewis Ginter served in the Confederate Army. And built the Jefferson Hotel and named it after a slaveowner – bring out the wrecking ball!
This is really impressive.
Guys. This is amazing. As you said, the key here is to stop venerating the symbols of hatred without just hiding them all away and forgetting the lessons of history.
We already have some museums that cover Confederate history. Maybe we need to jazz them up a little? Do they provide an engaging experience? Do they work with teachers to help teach a balanced and nuanced history of the Civil War?
Thanks again, y’all. I can’t wait to see how this unfolds.
Yeah, what we need is a real Stalinist style purge ! Erase everything, pretend it never happened and pretend these folks from 150 years ago never lived. Rewriting history is really the right way to address today’s wrongs.
I’m all for getting rid of the confederate flag, because its use today is a thinly veiled expression of solidarity with racists and a racist past. But street names and monuments that were constructed in another era are part of the historical fabric of the city, and attempting to remove them starts us on a slippery slope of judging all our historical figures by today’s standards. Many of our best-known historical figures were racists and slaveholders, and I think it’s a fool’s errand to try and purge them from our schools and roads and public squares.
I say don’t allow the continued glorification of Richmond’s confederate past with the display of the flag, but don’t change the character of the city by attempting to eradicate its past, no matter how flawed.
What if we set aside the money that would be spent on destroying statues and building museums and used it to educate our students (and adults) on Virginia’s history in the Civil War.
Did the NRA pay you to write this article?
There is actually a new civil war museum being designed by the architecture firm I work at. It will be combining the museum of confederacy and American Civil War center. http://baskervill.com/portfolio/on-the-boards/item/1107-american-civil-war-museum
This will be a great space to learn about the civil war and store all sorts of civil war relics without parading them for everyone.
The event in Charleston was a crime of hate, intent on creating violence. Hate stems from ignorance. Removing or ignoring history will only lead to misunderstanding history. Education and understanding lead to compromise and peace. I feel that removing the Monuments, changing the streets names, and generally denouncing these figures will only lead to more Hate. Hate from both sides of the fence. It will continue to divide, and we are back in the cycle. Attempting to learn, understand, and actually OPEN MINDS to why people did certain things, is the best way to approach a confusing past.
Maybe if we tear the Monuments down, we can turn Monument Avenue into a bike/pedestrian thoroughfare?
It is a frightening day in America when we begin seriously discussing erasing the parts of our history that may frighten, upset, or offend us. Especially when we do so without even making an attempt to provide the whole truth behind the people we are planning to erase. Take Robert E. Lee for example. When his father-in-law died and he inherited Arlington, he freed the slaves on the plantation, while Ulysess S. Grant still owned slaves. Or Stonewall Jackson, a man who taught Sunday School for African Americans in Lexington, Virginia, and taught them to read the Bible – at a time when it was illegal in Virginia to teach African Americans to read. He also hired an African American as his personal cook, and openly talked with him about the evils of slavery and how he prayed it would come to an end. But let’s not get sidetracked by the truth of history, let’s just generalize these men as those “whose name is synonymous with hate and racial violence.” Never let truth get in the way of a good, divisive narrative.
I don’t know, it makes 100% sense to take the confederate flag down, it represents a lot of hateful and evil acts towards people. But it seems much more tricky to talk about taking down monuments and changing street names. The statues do not have the same horrible associations that the flag does, and I also am not sure that removing them will actually help anyone today who is affected by racism. On the other hand the attitude of trying to right wrongs and promote love towards the black community might come through by removing the statues, and that at least is a good thing and a small step. Where do we ever get without taking small steps first?
Focus on the future yet immerse yourself our history in all forms this is Richmond because its Richmond. Get out of the fashionable revisionist mentality. Oh by the way can you get all the “IN GOD WE TRUST” of our public buildings and schools? That would be my request for revisioning, but it’s part a tone past that is not quite here.
I don’t think anyone is suggesting a “Stalinist purge” or erasing history. We can learn about terrible aspects of history without celebrating them – which is what these street names and statues were designed for and continue to do. Move the statues to museums and replace the tops with individuals worthy of the highest praise of Richmond.
As far as bible studies and emancipations, the acts that define these men were terrible. At least the acts that inspire our excessive and narrow-viewing worship of the Founding Fathers and other great Americans are loosely based on acts of greatness.
Excellent points, Charles Leggett.
Great points and ideas about the proliferation of Confederacy representations in the City and what to do about them. Major roadways should definitely be renamed. Last December, a group petitioned City Council to rename I-95 the Trans-African Highway with thought to connect African American history that the Confederacy erased. Balance in place names is needed.
Rarely are sound decisions made when emotions are running high. Hopefully some of the decisions – if any get made – are good ones that can acknowledge our past without glorifying the darker moments.
It seems that we clearly know too little about the men (and women?) these streets and monuments were meant to honor, as has already been pointed out by previous commenters. I think that the average person, based on this article and the comments, clearly knows far too little about the civil war – it was about slavery, but not exclusively, and failing to understand that can only lead to a confused interpretation. The people these monuments, streets, and building were named for fought for other things and more than preserving slavery.
Thanks RVA News for opening up a thoughtful dialogue. There are many fine points to digest and comment on, but I’ll pick just one now. I can imagine a scenario where a young artist or journalist is exploring the themes of race and history and identity photographically, and symbols or monuments are important to the art or documentation. So, down the line censorship of images may not make sense- why tie your hands with a policy when you have the power of editorial discretion?
Columbus owned slaves, so maybe we should rename the thousands of places named after him. Ben Franklin owned slaves, so he should be removed from currency. Presidents Jackson, Jefferson, Grant, Polk, Tyler, Washington – all slave owners. Maybe we should strip them of their title posthumously? Lewis and Clark – used slaves to achieve our Manifest Destiny (Cali). Like it or not, slavery IS our past and history. Trying to pretend it didn’t happen will only insure that it continues to do so…
Just curious, do you people belong to ISIS? They are over there erasing history too…
Here is one that has long bothered me: why is there a public school named for the man who created “Massive Resistance”–Senator Harry F. Byrd Middle School!
Slippery slope. So….what is next? The Pyramids of Egypt? They were after all built by slaves. The monument ave. statues are public works of art. Do what you do in a museum….take in in, form your opinion and move on, not destroy. PC is out of control in this country.
Thanks, RVA News for opening up a thoughtful dialogue. Removing statues and erecting museums to house them seems excessively wasteful. As the poster said above, that money should be spent on education. Erasing history isn’t the answer. Putting these figures into context and adding new monuments to Monument Ave of today’s heroes can help. Again, thanks for this piece and the thoughtful reflection.
Great article, thank you!
We don’t need to tear down monuments, change street names, but we do need to have an open and honest conversation about the figures they represent.
In addition we should be adding to our city the figures of the other side of the story, like the Slavery Museum slated for Shockoe (http://www.citylab.com/…/americas-failure-to-preser…/385367/).
There are always two sides to a story and we’ve only focused on the one, it’s time to bring the other to light so we can heal as a community and move forward.
It is very interesting to me that folks are worried about “rewriting” history. These monuments and names and highways and airports and stadiums and parking lots, cover over so much history that folks seem worried or uncomfortable or downright angry about discussing. Please try to think about the history that needs uncovering, discussing in the light. The folks on the monuments, their history is not going anywhere. It will always be there, enshrined in books and our public school curriculum. What also needs to be there are the histories of those who were covered over by those folks, their families and supporters. Leaving those histories covered is wrong and inhumane. It might be very tough to acknowledge, but Richmond and the world will be better for it. We can do it!! Let’s get to it!! <3
“Like it or not, slavery IS our past and history. Trying to pretend it didn’t happen will only insure that it continues to do so…”
Nobody’s trying to pretend it didn’t happen or erase it from history- those positions exist only in the ramblings from hysterical right-wingers who somehow believe that not honoring the Confederacy is an affront to America (Because logic is not important).
What people ARE suggesting is that it’s well past time for people to hide behind the Confederacy as being something other than a pro-slavery group. It’s in the Declaration of Secession, fer god’s sake- a document that many right-wing “READ SOME HISTORY!”-types always seem to forget about.
This is really well done- smart, thoughtful, thorough, and humane. I also applaud your new policy regarding the Photo of the Week. People keep bleating that not honoring Confederates in public is “erasing the history,” but honestly, this stuff belongs in a museum, where it can be put in the proper context. Something many don’t realize is that a bunch of these things were built or named during or after Reconstruction, as a means of making sure everyone knew that whites were still in control and always would be. I was so glad that you touched on this, that the statues and the street signs were political gestures, of a political line that is racist and abhorrent.
Mosby Street is named after Benjamin Mosby (not John Mosby)
http://chpn.net/news/2009/05/16/benjamin-mosby-not-john-mosby_5897/
Can we commisison French artists to re-do the statues? I knew the Robert E Lee statue as a grand, beautiful statue well before I knew his stance on slavery. Would be a shame to replace that with today’s standard. Maybe they can come up with a different design for the Arthur Ashe statue as well.
William Fanning Wickham married Ann Butler Carter sister of Ann Hill Carter Mother of Robert E Lee. *John Wickham 1734 -1808 is the father of John Wickham the lawyer the father of William Fanning Wickham. John Wickham 1734-1808 is my Great Xs grandfather Joseph Wickham’s Brother. I never believed in slavery. I was shocked to find out my great cousin was an uncle of General Robert E lee.
These men did not symbolize hate. They represented the inherent rights of the states that they proudly served. Lee and Jackson fought for Virginia, not hate. Lincoln and Lee were very good friends until the war began. Lee almost fought for the north, but insisted on defending Virginia because it was his home. If you think all of these men represented hate, please read a few books about the Civil War. There were heroes on both sides. They all fought for America, not for hate. The war was not over slavery. It was over crippling taxes and state representation. Slavery was brought into the colonies by the north way before the Confederacy had formed. Robert E. Lee was a hero and a very classy man. People like General Sherman, I would consider hateful. He killed countless civilians throughout the South to demoralize the Confederacy toward the end of the war. Find an example of this style of warfare by a Confederate general. You won’t. Lee said to his men at Antietam, abandon your animosities and make your sons Americans. He had no hate in his heart. He fought bravely for what he felt was right. We forget what a Civil War is. It is a tragedy for everyone. There is no winner and to disgrace one side is unfair. To not recognize these iconic Americans is sad and pathetic.