Yahoo Finance NC officials have taken down over 20 Confederate monuments recently. Here’s where
Five years ago, the Southern Poverty Law Center compiled a list of Confederate symbols across North Carolina, tallying 140 rebel monuments and markers in public spaces.
They ranged from the soldier in Raleigh who stood atop a 75-foot obelisk to a square stone in Charlotte the size of a grave, which was repeatedly vandalized and covered in Plexiglas for its protection.
Since then, at least 22 of the symbols have been removed — some out of a stated desire to break with racist history and some out of fear they would be vandalized.
Here is a list:
Asheville
In 2020, Asheville leaders had already taken down a pair of Confederate memorials, though a bigger question remained. The Vance Monument, the towering obelisk dedicated to Zebulon B. Vance, North Carolina’s governor during the Civil War, still stood in a prominent downtown spot. But unlike councils in many N.C. cities, Asheville’s council not only ordered the monument removed, they ordered it destroyed. Its pieces could not be sold, given away or made into a new likeness.
Charlotte
A monument honoring “brave soldiers of the South” had already shifted from Old City Hall to city-owned Elmwood Cemtery by 2015, according to The Charlotte Observer. But a small stone marker at Charlotte’s Grady Cole Center still stood, despite being repeatedly vandalized. Mecklenburg County had encased it in Plexiglas for its protection, then ordered it removed last year, WFAE reported.
Clinton
Sampson County’s tribute to the Confederacy was vandalized in July 2020 during a summer of Black Lives Matter protests, leaving the soldier dangling precariously from its stone pedestal. Commissioners voted to move it to a local history museum a month later, the Sampson Independent reported.
During the debate over its removal, many unsuccessfully called for restoring the monument to its original state downtown. “Please consider what the rest of us want by not letting our heritage be hidden away in a museum,” said Jan Honeycutt Cook of Clinton. “Most of us grew up with that statue. We passed it on the way from school, we’ve taken comfort and confidence that it would always be there like an old friend.”
Durham
In 2017, protesters pulled down the Confederate statue in downtown Durham after white supremacists held a march in Charlottesville, Va. Three years later, workers moved the heavy stone base. Among those activists accused of tearing it down, one was found not guilty and the rest had charges dropped. The monument, heavily damaged when it toppled to the street, went into storage.
Fayetteville
Fayetteville’s Confederate soldier statue had shifted around the city for many years before settling in a grassy section near Morganton Road. Private owners removed it last year without direction from the city, according to ABC11.
“America is going through a reform,’’ Mayor Mitch Colvin told the Fayetteville Observer. “We’re seeing evidence every day in our community. State houses are taking down flags and replacing those. I’m glad to see there is a little more sensitivity as to what was offensive to some people.”
Greensboro
In July 2020, vandals knocked down the Confederate soldier statute that stood over 300 unknown soldiers’ graves. Shortly afterward, the News & Record of Greensboro reported that it remained in storage with an uncertain future.
Greenville
The monument at the Pitt County Courthouse came down in June 2020 after officials there cited safety concerns. In February, commissioners voted to move the statue to private property on N.C. 42 owned by former Commissioner Ephraim Smith, according to WNCT.
“It’s a part of history,” Smith told WITN. “It’s probably not a part of history that we all will appreciate but it is a part of the history of the South and the North.”
Lexington
The Confederate statue known as “The Man” sparked months of protest in Lexington in 2020, then triggered a lawsuit against Davidson County, which owned the land where the rifle-bearing soldier stood. The county sought to block its removal, The Dispatch reported, but the local Daughters of the Confederacy, also being sued, agreed to have it relocated to private property. Its new home near Denton, named Valor Memorial Park, hosted a grand opening ceremony complete with a Civil War reenactment and Confederate flag-raising.
Louisburg
Louisburg’s Confederate monument sat outside predominantly black Louisburg College, and students regularly passed by its tall bronze soldier. Will Hinton, art instructor at the college, first proposed its relocation to nearby Oakwood Cemetery, where rebel soldiers are buried. Two years later, in 2020, the town moved the monument into storage until it was then placed in the graveyard, hoping to stave off vandalism.
Oxford
Granville County commissioners ordered the Confederate monument removed from Oxford in June 2020. They feared protesters would tear it down and put police in “difficult, no-win situations,” according to the Henderson Daily Dispatch. It has been placed in storage.
Pasquotank County
County commissioners voted in July to send the monument in western Pasquotank into private hands, The Daily Advance reported. Warren Weidrick will pay to have the statue rebuilt on his property, which the Advance said sits near a historic marker for the state’s first General Assembly meeting.
Pittsboro
In 2019, Chatham County took down its Confederate statue, which stood outside the courthouse on a busy traffic circle. The statue had drawn protesters for months, and county leaders sought to end disruptions to traffic. The statue and pedestal were stored in a warehouse, “where they will remain until such time as the Winnie Davis Chapter of the United Daughters of the Confederacy finds a more appropriate location to place them,” spokeswoman Kara Lusk Dudley told the N&O. The case is still being appealed, but no court date has been set.
Raleigh
Raleigh’s 75-foot monument took several days and multiple cranes to disassemble. Its removal followed a night in June 2020 when protesters pulled statues off its obelisk, dragged them and hanged one from a light pole. Gov. Roy Cooper ordered the obelisk and two other Confederate statues removed from the Capitol grounds, a decision that drew cheers from onlookers. The monuments went into storage until new locations are found.
“Finally,” said Shana Tucker, who played “We Shall Overcome” on cello as she watched. “This is a big deal, and it seems like an authentic gesture. I’m proud of my city today.”
Reidsville
Reidsville’s Confederate monument exited public life long before the George Floyd protests of 2020. In 2011, a van plowed through a downtown traffic circle and knocked down the soldier’s statue, which had stood for a century, The News & Record of Greensboro reported. The idea of replacing it brought debate over the statue’s legacy of racism, and the monument moved to Greenview Cemetery.
In 2016, a new sculpture titled “Budding Future” replaced the Confederate soldier.
Rockingham
A crane pulled up the city’s 15-ton monument to the Confederacy in September 2020. During the removal, which took several attempts over two months, the memorial was spray-painted with a Black Lives Matter slogan over the “Lest we forget” slogan, according to the Richmond Daily Journal. It will be relocated to a veterans cemetery.
Rocky Mount
The Confederate statue nicknamed “Uncle Billy” came down in June 2020 after the City Council’s vote to remove it from its spot near Battle Park. Residents viewed the statue either as a reminder of “bad history” or a site suitable for taking grandchildren, the Rocky Mount Telegram reported. It will be held in storage until a new owner claims it.
Salisbury
Debate over “Fame,” Salisbury’s Confederate monument, had raged for years, and in 2018, vandals splashed white paint on the winged statue, the Salisbury Post reported. During Black Lives Matter protests in 2020, someone fired gunshots in the air near the statue. The city soon arranged for the United Daughters of the Confederacy to move it to a nearby cemetery overlooking veterans’ graves. It went up in July.
UNC-Chapel Hill
The “Silent Sam” Confederate statue stood on the UNC-Chapel Hill campus for more than a century before protesters tore it down in 2018, calling for an end to the celebration of racist symbols. The university soon negotiated a $2.5 million settlement with the Sons of Confederate Veterans to take and keep the statue off campus. The controversial deal was later voided by a judge.
“Silent Sam is in secure storage and there are no plans to transfer it or reinstall it,” UNC spokesman Josh Ellis told the N&O. “The university is not in talks with any group or groups regarding the statue.”
Wadesboro
Anson County commissioners decided by a split vote to pull down the monument in Wadesboro after emotional speeches from residents. “(The statue) was put up in the 1900s, 40 years after the war took place,” said Morven resident Mianna Deberry, according to the Richmond County Daily Journal. “They put it up during Jim Crow. It tells us that our Black skin does not matter.”
In August, the county announced the statue would go to a private but yet unnamed benefactor, the Anson Record said.
Warrenton
Downtown Warrenton’s monument came down in June 2020 after county commissioners held an emergency meeting to deal with threats and public safety. County Manager Vincent Jones told the Henderson Daily Dispatch, “I’m sure this is the start of maybe some larger discussion here in Warren County.”
Wilmington
In August, work crews pulled up the final pieces of two downtown Confederate monuments, one pedestal of which weighed as much as a school bus full of children, the Star News reported. The work followed the city’s 2020 decision to remove the statues, which Black Lives Matter protesters viewed them as symbols of racial oppression. They are being kept in storage until they can be transferred to the local United Daughters of the Confederacy.
