The statue of Confederate general Robert E. Lee that has roiled Charlottesville since 2016—and led to 2017’s deadly influx of white supremacists—has ceased to exist, at least as a Lost Cause icon. When parts of the bronze monument hit the crucible in a 2,200-degree furnace recently, it was a solemn and emotional experience for the […]
The statue of Confederate general Robert E. Lee that has roiled Charlottesville since 2016—and led to 2017’s deadly influx of white supremacists—has ceased to exist, at least as a Lost Cause icon. When parts of the bronze monument hit the crucible in a 2,200-degree furnace recently, it was a solemn and emotional experience for the […]
After years of legal battles, the Swords into Plowshare project has melted down the statue of Robert E. Lee, which once stood in a park near Charlottesville’s Downtown Mall. Opposition to the monument’s initial removal fueled the deadly violence of the 2017 white supremacist Unite the Right rally. Now, the bronze which once formed the […]
It’s been more than a year since statues began coming down in Charlottesville—where are they now? Johnny Reb In August 2020, the Albemarle County Board of Supervisors unanimously voted to take down Charlottesville’s first Confederate monument: a bronze statue of a Confederate soldier known as “Johnny Reb,” who stood outside the county courthouse for 111 […]
Charlottesville’s most famous monument made national headlines last week, when City Council voted to hand the statue of Robert E. Lee over to the Jefferson School African American History Center, which will melt it down and reshape the metal into a new piece of art. Across the street, meanwhile, a less conspicuous but no less […]
Lee will melt Charlottesville’s statue of Confederate General Robert E. Lee is about to take even more heat. At the end of its Monday meeting, City Council unanimously voted to donate the Lee monument to the Jefferson School African American Heritage Center, which plans to melt down the statue and use the bronze to create […]
Richmond Lee statue will fall At press time, the statue of Robert E. Lee in downtown Richmond still stands—but that won’t be the case for long, as the statue is slated to come down on Wednesday, September 8. Last summer, Governor Ralph Northam ordered the statue’s removal, and a recent Virginia Supreme Court ruling confirmed […]