Background
Richmond, VA
The history of the city of Richmond dates to the 17th century and is deeply rooted in white supremacy. The city played an important role in the development of the colony of Virginia, the American Revolutionary War, and the Civil War. The growth of agricultural economies led to the introduction of slavery. By 1680, slaves were responsible for most of manual labor in Virginia. The oldest neighborhood in the city is on a hilltop called Church Hill overlooking the James River. The school where I teach is in this neighborhood and has a clear view of the river. The James River and slave labor helped Richmond become a center of industry and trade including iron foundries, mills and tobacco warehouses along the river. Richmond was a major port in the massive downriver Slave Trade that made Richmond the largest source of enslaved Africans on the east coast of America from 1830 to 1860. As an urban city, slaves in Richmond were manual laborers in the tobacco processing warehouses, built canals, built houses, and worked in iron manufacturing.
In 1775, Patrick Henry delivered his famous “Give Me Liberty or Give Me Death” speech at St. John’s Episcopal Church. The speech helped spark troops to be sent starting the Revolutionary War. In 1780, the capital of Virginia was relocated from Williamsburg to Richmond. When Virginia seceded from the United States at the beginning of the Civil War, Richmond was declared the capital of the Confederacy until the end of the war in 1865. There are numerous historical markers and monuments around the city and state to commemorate these moments in history but none as numerous as those honoring the Civil War and Virginia’s Confederate “heroes.”
Note: Teachers who want to use this unit that do not reside in Richmond should research their state’s regional history. When presenting local history to students, ensure that research is from a variety of perspectives, particularly Black and Indigenous experiences that is often erased from the way these histories are told.
Lost Cause Narrative
University of Virginia professor, Gary W. Gallagher writes:
“The architects of the Lost Cause acted from various motives. They collectively sought to justify their own actions and allow themselves and other former Confederates to find something positive in all-encompassing failure. They also wanted to provide their children and future generations of white Southerners with a 'correct' narrative of the war.”
Organizations like the United Daughters of the Confederacy, established in 1894, promoted The Lost Cause narrative and are key players in elevating propaganda campaign to erase slavery as the cause of the civil war and to whitewash the Confederate cause as a noble one. This group of Southern women from elite antebellum families, states their intention as to "tell of the glorious fight against the greatest odds a nation ever faced, that their hallowed memory should never die." The United Daughters of the Confederacy was instrumental in fundraising efforts to erect the visible and tangible large bronze monuments to Confederate generals across the United States. Monuments were erected on roadsides, in parks, in state capitol buildings; any widely visible space. The organization also promoted the Lost Cause narrative be written into textbooks, therefore teaching students this perspective until the 1970s. For decades, students were taught that slavery was benign, the war was about states rights not slavery, and Confederate soldiers were southern gentlemen. The book A Measuring Rod to Test Text Books, and Reference Books in Schools, Colleges and Libraries by Mildred Rutherford was widely shared across the south to school superintendents ensuring that textbooks were shaping how southern white children feel about their heritage (whiteness), that Lost Cause history be presented as “real history” and provided a foundation on which Southerners built the Jim Crow system.
Jim Crow Era Confederate Monuments
While groups like the daughters of the Confederacy suggested these monuments represented “white Southern heritage,” they also represented a very elite planter dominated version of that heritage. During Reconstruction, there were white people who did not necessarily see their interests aligned with those of wealthy southern elites. These monuments helped to solidify and create cross class alliance of whites who understood their interest to be always opposed to those of Black people. The point here is not to suggest that the monuments simply represented the expression of all white people spontaneously, but rather demonstrated the ways that white elites use the symbols to legitimate their own authority. These are complex issues to be sure, but it's an important point to make if we are to disrupt the notion that these monuments simply represent interpersonal bigotry and antagonism, had nothing to do with larger structures of society. In this sense they're not just about “hate,” they are also about elite power and control.
There are five monuments on Monument Avenue in Richmond Virginia explored in this unit. Monument Avenue is a cobblestone tree-lined grassy divided boulevard that was conceived during a site search for the memorial statue of General Robert E. Lee. The street was, and continues to be, a favored area of Richmond’s elite class with mansions lining the street from the end of the Guilded Age. When the neighborhood was conceived, it was written within the official planning documents that Black people would not be allowed to live on the Avenue.
The Robert E. Lee statue was the first statue erected in 1890. Planning and fundraising for the Lee monument began at Lee’s death on October 12, 1870. It is grand in scale at 61 feet tall and consists of a bronze statue of Lee on horseback which sits upon an enormous granite pedestal. The statue is in the center of a grassy traffic circle that is approximately a quarter acre in size. The J.E.B. Stuart was the second statue unveiled on May 30, 1907, just one block away from Lee. The third monument of the President of the Confederacy, Jefferson Davis, was unveiled days later on June 2, 1907. The Stonewall Jackson was the fourth monument unveiled in 1919. The fifth monument of Matthew Fontaine Maury was unveiled in 1929. The monuments of Confederate generals on Monument Avenue were largely funded through direct financial support from the Commonwealth of Virginia and the City of Richmond. Fundraising efforts of the United Daughters of the Confederacy were also instrumental to the construction of the monuments and promotion of the “Lost Cause” narrative, perpetuating a narrow set of memories about the Confederacy.
Controversy over the removal of these monuments has been increasing over the past couple years. In 2015, a group of Virginia Commonwealth University students, a nonprofit design studio, the Valentine Museum and the Branch Museum of Architecture and Design invited artists to submit plans to consider alternatives to the monuments as part of a competition called General Demotion/General Devotion. These artist proposals initiated a dialogue that was a beginning point to visualize a way forward. When the city of Charlottesville, VA voted to remove a statue of Robert E. Lee and rename Lee Park, white supremacists marched in the “Unite the Right” rally through the city resulting in the death of a counter protestor. The event in Charlottesville sparked local (and national) discussion and debate about the presence and removal of Confederate monuments. The Monument Avenue Commission was formed by the mayor in response to public outcry over the monuments as a source of “pride and shame” to gather feedback and inspire civil dialogue from city residents to consider adding context to the monuments and suggestions for additional monuments. The Commission submitted their report in July 2018, and nothing changed.
Note: Teachers outside of Richmond are encouraged to think about their regional history of oppression and/or enslavement and how these histories might be evident in public art works and historic memorial sites within their communities. In the subsection Images from Lesson in the Appendix on Implementing District Standards section, there is an abbreviated list of monuments across the country to consider.
Black Lives Matter Movement
George Floyd’s murder by police officers in Minneapolis, Minnasota in May 2020 sparked national outrage over police brutality and systems of white supremacy. Since protests against police brutality erupted in Richmond on May 28th, the monument sites have become a focus of local demonstrations. Specifically, the Lee and Stuart monuments, which are just one block away from each other. On the evening of May 30th, protesters took to the streets and spray-painted messages on the monuments and set fire to the United Daughters of Confederacy national headquarters causing considerable damage to the building. The street art protest messages on the monuments include, “BLM”, “F*ck 12”, “ACAB”, “Blood on your hands”, “All I see is blood”, “Amerikkka”, “How much more blood?”, “Stop white supremacy”, “Black Lives Matter” and “Cops are creepy”, all in a kaleidoscope of colors. “YOUR TAX STATUS IS RACIST” was added after an article in the Washington Post reported that a group of homeowners on Monument Avenue filed a lawsuit claiming that removing the statues would cause them to “suffer the loss of favorable tax treatment and reduction in property values.” More context challenging the “Lost Cause” narrative continues to be added to the monuments every night. At first it was a protest, but now it resembles a community space.
On June 4th, Governor Northam announced that the Robert E. Lee statue would be removed. (The Lee monument is the only monument that is on state property.) However, a lawsuit was filed by a descendent of the family who transferred the private property to the state. The lawsuit states that the transfer deed agreed the state would “faithfully guard” and “affectionately protect” the monument. On June 5th, Mayor Stoney announced that when City Council reconvenes on July 1st, he will request the removal of the other four monuments to Confederate generals be removed as well. (These four statues are on city property.) Richmond Mayor, Lavar Stoney, stated, “It’s time to heal, ladies and gentlemen. Richmond is no longer the capital of the Confederacy.”
Every day, local artists and the protests are challenging colorblindness by adding to this reimagined communal art space around the monuments. Public art is vital to a community and a way to create conversation. The reactive art making by social activist artists have contributed to changing the space in an effort to reeducate and tell a different story to the public. The community has unofficially been renamed the circle as Marcus-David Peters Circle (MDP Circle, for short) referencing a Black biology teacher who was shot and killed by police while experiencing a mental health crisis in 2018. Beginning June 5, 2020 an artist named Dustin Klein began projecting images of figures including George Floyd and Marcus-David Peters on the Lee monument’s surface every night. Musicians such as cello players, trombonists, DJs, local bands, and R&B star Trey Songz have performed at the monument sites. A violin vigil for Elijah McClain, which included over 30 strings musicians, happened at sunset on July 21, 2020 which drew an enormous crowd. Families visit and take photos of recent graduates in their cap and gown. The site is now a popular spot for formal wedding portraits. A community garden and fruit trees have been planted. A community library has been installed. There is a basketball hoop and a couch. There are voter registration booths and community groups set up grills to make free food for the visitors to the community space. There are dozens of laminated placards posted around the monument, with the name, photo and biography of Black people killed at the hands of the police violence. Each placard has a makeshift memorial with flowers and candles beneath it. Artists and protestors are changing the context of the monuments in real time.
Prior to May 2020, the Robert E. Lee statue and the surrounding park has attracted very few visitors beyond the occasional tourist. Now, many Richmond residents are stopping and visiting the site for the first time instead of just driving by it. The site of the J.E.B. Stuart monument has transformed into a popular skateboarding spot, affectionately referred to as “Skate in Solidarity” Circle by the local skate community, and a photo and accompanying article was featured in Thrasher magazine in their June 2020 issue.
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