Jefferson Davis Monument
On Monday Richmond City Council will consider an ordinance to permanently remove 10 Confederate statues from city-owned property. The statue of Confederate President Jefferson Davis, pictured here, was torn down by protesters on June 10. (File photo via Getty Images)
Just over one month after work crews temporarily removed Confederate statues and iconography scattered throughout the city, Richmond City Council will meet on Monday, Aug. 3, to formally consider their permanent removal from city-owned land.
The ordinance, of which every council member except 8th District Councilwoman Reva Trammel is a co-patron, follows a process approved by the Virginia General Assembly earlier this year that cedes control over Confederate monuments to local governments. If the measure is approved, the city will begin a 30-day process during which it will offer the Confederate statues for relocation to interested museums, historical societies or military battlefields.
Under the ordinance, the city would permanently remove memorials to:
- Confederate Gen.Thomas “Stonewall” Jackson, originally located at the intersection of Monument Avenue and North Arthur Ashe Boulevard
- Confederate President Jefferson Davis, originally located at the intersection of Monument and North Davis avenues
- Confederate Gen. J.E.B. Stuart, originally located at the intersection of Monument Avenue and Stuart Circle
- Confederate naval commander Matthew Fontaine Maury, originally located at the intersection of Monument and North Belmont avenues
- A cannon “delineating the outer defensive ring of the city,” originally located at the intersection of Monument Avenue and Roseneath Road
- A cannon “delineating the inner defensive ring of the city,” originally located at the intersection of Monument and North Davis avenues
- Confederate soldier Joseph Bryan, originally located in Monroe Park
- Confederate Gen. Fitzhugh Lee, originally located in Monroe Park
- Confederate Gen. A.P. Hill, located at the intersection of West Laburnum Avenue and Hermitage Road
- The Confederate Soldiers and Sailors monument, originally located in Libby Hill Park
Mayor Levar Stoney has said that the removal of the statues cost the city $1.8 million, which was taken out of the local public works budget. To help offset the financial hit, a local fundraising effort called The Fund to Move the Monuments sprung up to help reimburse the city for the removal costs.
Shannon Harton, a partner with Nest Realty, says he’s been a longtime supporter of removing the statues and partnered with the Maggie Walker Community Land Trust to launch the fundraising campaign. Although donations poured in when the fundraiser went live in late June, he says its popularity waned after the statues began coming down.
“We raised $1,000 the first day, then $3,000, then $6,000,” he says. “The take was doubling every day, so it was making pretty good process, but within three weeks of the last [statue] coming down, it had slowed to a pretty good crawl.”
To date, The Fund to Move the Monuments has raised $32,385 across two simultaneous fundraising campaigns on Facebook and GoFundMe. Harton says he hasn’t yet set a firm end date on the fundraising campaign and aims to keep it going as long as donations continue to come in. Funds raised will be directed in full to the city with the stipulation that they be used only for Confederate statue removal costs and that any leftover funds be channeled to Richmond Public Schools.
Although council is expected to approve the removal ordinance, most of the statues and Confederate icons in question were taken into temporary storage in early July under an emergency order issued by Stoney, citing the public safety threat posed by their continued presence for demonstrators who may have injured themselves while attempting to topple them.
In late June, protesters tore down statues of Confederate Gen. Williams Carter Wickham, Christopher Columbus and Davis, as well as the Richmond Howitzer monument on the campus of Virginia Commonwealth University and the First Virginia Regiment statue in Meadow Park.
“These statues, although symbolic, have cast a dark shadow on the dreams of our children of color,” Stoney said at a July 1 council meeting where he announced the emergency order. “By removing them, we can begin to heal and focus our attention on our future.”
The special meeting will be held virtually on Monday, Aug. 3, at 5 p.m. Council members will hold a public hearing before their vote, where city residents will be invited to share opinions on the change. Interested Richmonders can contact the city clerk’s office by Monday at 10 a.m. with a written comment or a request to speak virtually at the meeting.
