Elation, joy, frustration, heartache—for community activist Don Gathers, watching the removal of Charlottesville’s Robert E. Lee and Thomas “Stonewall” Jackson statues stirred up a wide range of emotions.
“This moment is truly surreal. In spite of everything, I wasn’t sure if we would actually get to this point,” he said on Saturday morning, shortly after the statues came down. “I’m completely awash with [happiness], but also a tinge of sadness over what it’s taken to get us to this point.”
Just one day after the city formally announced its plans to take down the racist monuments, construction crews got to work unscrewing the Lee statue from its stone base. At 7am, community activist Zyahna Bryant—who first petitioned City Council to remove the Lee statue in 2016—addressed the small crowd of activists and community members gathered in the early morning light for the historic occasion.
“This is a crucial first step in the right direction, to tell a more historically accurate and complete story of this place, and the people who call this place home,” said Bryant, who is entering her third year at UVA. “The work did not start here, and it will not end here…To the young people out there, I hope that this empowers you to speak up on the issues that matter and to take charge in your own cities and communities.”
“The work of removing the statues is only the tip of the iceberg,” she added. “There’s so much work left to do to address affordable housing, policing, [and] the wealth gap.”
After thanking city officials and activists for their hard work and dedication, Mayor Nikuyah Walker echoed Bryant’s words. “Taking down these statues is one small step closer to the goal of helping Charlottesville, Virginia, and America grapple with the sin of being willing to destroy Black people for economic gain,” she said.
Walker spoke of the deadly Unite the Right rally and the long, painful fight to remove the Confederate statues, which were erected in the 1920s during the Jim Crow era and at the height of Ku Klux Klan membership. She also discussed the many more steps that need to be taken to dismantle and eradicate white supremacy.
“The real work has always been, and will continue to be, the willingness to accurately teach history [and] eliminate wealth gaps,” said Walker.
Applause and cheers rang through the air as a crane lifted the bronze man and horse onto a flatbed truck a little over an hour later. The growing crowd moved over to the Second Street sidewalk to get a better view and take pictures, before the truck drove off at 8:30am. “Hey, hey, hey, goodbye!” sang a few Black community members.
Shortly after 9am, the crew got to work on the Stonewall Jackson statue a few blocks away. Workers were able to strap the Confederate general to a truck and haul him away by 11am, as the crowd once again rejoiced.
The statues will be stored at a city facility on Avon Street Extended until council votes on what to do with them permanently. Ten entities have expressed interest in the monuments, but councilors are not required to give them away, and could vote to demolish them. At press time, the city had begun removing the plinths where the generals stood for nearly a century.
Gazing at the statue-less Court Square, community activist and UVA professor Jalane Schmidt, who has led walking tours contextualizing the monuments with Jefferson School Executive Director Dr. Andrea Douglas, felt a wave of relief. “[It’s] very gratifying after all the work that we did to see this day finally arrive, and that it happened so quickly and so smoothly,” she said.
Schmidt emphasized that the city should not rush to replace the statues. The space where they stood, the area around Court Square, has a deep history that won’t be easily expressed in a new monument. In 1914, Albemarle County seized the land, known at the time as McKee Row, from its majority Black residents, and later tore down their homes and businesses. White philanthropist and segregationist Paul Goodloe McIntire bought the land and deeded it to Charlottesville to be used as an all-white public park in 1919. He funded the erection of the two Confederate monuments, as well as statues of George Rogers Clark and Lewis, Clark, and Sacagawea, which were also removed this weekend.
“I hope that going forward we can be more democratic in our process. The process is just as important as whatever might go in there,” Schmidt said. “And in that conversation, we need to hear from folks, and the descendants of folks, who were not listened to the first time around.”
Schmidt also stressed the importance of continuing the fight against systemic racism. In addition to working on a book, she is currently producing a short documentary about the city’s Confederate statues, which she hopes will be used in schools.
“Those values that kept [the statues] there, they are still here and operative,” said Schmidt. “We have a lot of work to do. We can’t just pat ourselves on the back and say, ‘We undid a racism.’”
“This is by no means the end,” added Gathers. “This particular battle has been won—but the war continues.”
How it happened
April 9, 1865—Robert E. Lee and the Confederate Army
surrender at Appomattox,
sealing victory for the Union Army in the Civil War.
October 19, 1921—Charlottesville’s statue of Confederate general Stonewall Jackson is unveiled. The statue is funded by Paul Goodloe McIntire, a philanthropist, businessman, UVA dropout, and segregationist.
May 21, 1924—The Robert E. Lee statue, also donated by McIntire, is dedicated. The Confederate Veterans, Sons of Confederate Veterans, and the United Daughters of the Confederacy are in attendance at the ceremony.
March 2016—Charlottesville High School student Zyahna Bryant starts a petition to remove the Lee statue from its prominent position in the city park. “When I think of Robert E. Lee I instantly think of someone fighting in favor of slavery,” she writes.
May 2, 2016—The city forms the Blue Ribbon Commission on Race, Memorials and Public Spaces to study the history of the statues.
February 6, 2017—City Council votes 3-2 to remove the Lee statue. Kristin Szakos, Wes Bellamy, and Bob Fenwick vote in favor of the statue’s removal. Kathy Galvin and Mayor Mike Signer vote against.
March 2017—Statue defenders sue the City of Charlottesville, accusing the city of breaking
a law against removing
war memorials by voting to remove the Lee statue.
August 11 and 12, 2017— White nationalists gather in Charlottesville for the Unite the Right rally. A terrorist attack kills counterprotester Heather Heyer, and two state troopers die in a helicopter crash.
March 9, 2020—The Virginia General Assembly passes a law allowing localities to “remove, relocate, contextualize, or cover” war memorials.
April 1, 2021—The Supreme Court of Virginia kills the lawsuit aimed at protecting the statues, declaring that the statues never should have been considered war memorials and that the city is allowed to remove them.
June 7, 2021—City Council votes 5-0 to take the statues out of the city parks.
July 9, 2021—The Lee and Jackson statues are removed and transported to a secure location.