4. Monument Removal 2020-2021

On May 25th, 2020, George Floyd was killed by former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin while under arrest for allegedly passing off a counterfeit twenty dollar bill at a convenience store. When the video of this white police officer killing the unarmed black man surfaced, anti-racist and anti-police brutality protests erupted in cities around the world. Led in large part by Black Lives Matter activists, demonstrations across the U.S. consisting of thousands of participants continued for nearly six months.

Four days after the death of George Floyd, local protests began in Richmond, Virginia. As protestors filled the streets, Richmond’s numerous Confederate memorials and statues quickly became targets for defacement, as they served as symbols of the city’s history of white supremacy and systemic racism. Throughout the month of June, protestors successfully toppled four Confederate statues including General Williams Carter Wickman, Confederate President Jefferson Davis, the Howitzer Monument, and the First Virginia Regiment Monument, as well as, the statue of Christopher Columbus. Additionally, the Memorial to the Women of the Confederacy, which has served as the national headquarters for the United Daughters of the Confederacy was set aflame. 

In response to the protest, on June 4, 2020, Virginia Governor Ralph Northam and Richmond Mayor Levar Stoney announced plans to remove the Robert E. Lee statue from Monument Avenue. The next day, the Richmond City Council unanimously voted to remove all Confederate statues within the city limits. Following two months of daily demonstrations, in early July the city of Richmond officially removed three Confederate monuments dedicated to J.E.B. Stuart, Thomas “Stonewall” Jackson, and Matthew Fontaine Maury, from their locations on Monument Avenue. The last statue to be removed from Monument Avenue was the Robert E. Lee monument. The Supreme Court ruled in September 2021 that the monument could be legally removed and it was finally dislodged and relocated on September 8, 2021.

1. Burch, Audra D. S., Weiyi Cai, Gabriel Gianordoli, Morrigan McCarthy, and Jugal K. Patel. “How Black Lives Matter Reached Every Corner of America.” The New York Times. June 13, 2020. https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2020/06/13/us/george-floyd-protests-cities-photos.html.

2. Duster, Chandelis. “Robert E. Lee Statue on Historic Virginia Street Removed.” CNN. Cable News Network, September 8, 2021. https://www.cnn.com/2021/09/08/politics/robert-e-lee-statue-richmond-virginia-removal/index.html.

3. Levenson, Michael. “Protesters Topple Statue of Jefferson Davis on Richmond’s Monument Avenue.” The New York Times. June 11, 2020. https://www.nytimes.com/2020/06/11/us/Jefferson-Davis-Statue-Richmond.html

4. Robinson, Mark. “It’s unanimous: All nine Richmond City COuncil members back removal of Confederate monuments on Monument Avenue,” Richmond Times-Dispatch. June 5, 2020, https://richmond.com/news/local/its-unanimous-all-nine-richmond-city-council-members-back-removal-of-confederate-monuments-on-monument/article_a639a9e9-6757-5278-8da5-bf498241afb9.html