The non-profit helped the city engage the community in conversations, which Mayor Mary Katherine Greenlaw said has helped Fredericksburg be “more honest about our history.” “I’m not going to waste a cushion in my council seat.”Īfter the vote, City Council hired a non-profit – the International Coalition Sites of Conscience (ICSC) – that works to tell the stories of historic sites that represent pain in the community or human rights violations. ![]() “At that moment, I felt like I was on an island.”īut the votes against removal only increased Frye’s passions. Lee statue from Richmond as city reckons with Confederate monuments Virginia governor announces removal of Robert E. The large equestrian statue, which depicts the Confederate commander on his horse, Traveller, was created by French sculptor Jean Antonin Merci, and unveiled on May 29, 1890. Lee Monument is located on Monument Avenue in Richmond, Virginia. “I think racist folks loved it, historians understood it, and black people were intimidated,” Frye said.įrye, the only African American on City Council, proposed removing Fredericksburg’s slave auction block in 2017 – shortly after the deadly “Unite the Right” rally in Charlottesville, Virginia, just an hour and a half drive’s west.Īfter consulting members of the community, all of City Council, except for Frye, voted to keep the auction block in place while adding historical context to the site. He also recalls stories of tourists taking photos with the slave block. said.įrye, who grew up in Fredericksburg, has childhood memories of people mocking or spitting on the stone as they walked by. “I think it really hit home when there were hundreds of people at the block saying, ‘Move it,’” Councilman Chuck Frye Jr. In Fredericksburg, the slave auction block became a site for protests, and it was recently tagged with red, green and white spray paint. ![]() ![]() Indianapolis Mayor Joe Hogsett said that a memorial dedicated to Confederate soldiers who died at a Union prison camp in the city will be removed from a local park. In Birmingham, Alabama, a statue of Confederate sailor Charles Linn was toppled by demonstrators and is scheduled to be removed by city officials. Lee from Richmond’s historic Monument Avenue. Ralph Northam has announced plans to remove a statue honoring Confederate Gen. Other similarly contentious sites that have been the subject of nationwide debate are being removed amid protests following the recent deaths of Ahmaud Arbery, Breonna Taylor and George Floyd. “There is no direct quote noting that a slave stood on the block to be sold, but there are statements made in the post-Civil War years by African Americans stating they were sold on that corner,” the city notes on its website. ![]() Local tradition, records, and statements by African Americans themselves have identified the elevated stone as a place where slaves were sold. The block became an embodiment of the present and past pain in this community.” “The trauma involved in that passed through generations. “The institution of slavery was central to the community prior to the Civil War,” said John Hennessy, chief historian of Fredericksburg and Spotsylvania National Military Park. The auction block is removed by workers in Fredericksburg, Virginia, on Friday, June 5.
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