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Virginia Removes Its Robert E. Lee Statue From U.S. Capitol
By Merrit Kennedy
December 21, 2020
For more than 100 years, two statues representing Virginia have stood at the U.S. Capitol: one of George Washington and another of Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee.
But early Monday, the Lee statue was removed from the National Statuary Hall’s collection. It’s expected to be replaced by a statue honoring civil rights activist Barbara Johns.
“This is a historic and long-overdue moment for our Commonwealth,” U.S. Reps. Donald McEachin and Jennifer Wexton, both Democrats from Virginia, said in a statement. “The Robert E. Lee statue honors a legacy of division, oppression, and racism a dark period in the history of our Commonwealth and our country.”
“We must start telling our complete history and remove these monuments that venerate individuals who fought to maintain slavery in this country,” tweeted Mr. Herring, a Democrat.
Sculptor Edward Valentine gifted the statue to the collection in 1909 as a commemoration of the general who commanded the Confederate Army of Northern Virginia from 1862 until he surrendered in 1865, according to the Architect of the Capitol website.
Mr. Northam, a Democrat, established the Commission for Historical Statues in the U.S. Capitol earlier this year to look into the removal and replacement of the monument.
The commission was created following a wave of Confederate statue removals nationwide sparked by protests over racism and police brutality after George Floyd’s death in police custody in Minneapolis in May.