Controversial Confederate Monuments torn down in New Orleans
Over 150 years passed since the Civil War and the Confederate States of America came to an end. There are many monuments, buildings and memorials that preserve the memory of those who fought to maintain slavery. One of those monuments is now gone and three more are set to be taken down.
New Orleans removed its Battle of Liberty Place monument on Monday, “under cover of darkness”, according to CBS. Monuments to Confederate President Jefferson Davis and generals P.G.T. Beauregard and Robert E. Lee will also be removed soon.
The Liberty Place marker once stood over the site of an 1874 battle between a paramilitary group of Confederate veterans and white supremacists, who wanted to be called the Crescent City White League, and a coalition of local police and state militia, according to Smithsonian.
loading...
In 1932, the monument received a plaque that read that the 1877 election – “recognised white supremacy in the South and gave us our state.”
There have been attempts to remove the monument last year, but the contractors were threatened and gave up.
“This is about showing the whole world that we as a city and as a people are able to acknowledge, understand, reconcile— and most importantly—choose a better future,” New Orleans mayor Mitch Landrieu said in a statement released on Monday.
He noted that the four removed statues will eventually be placed in a museum or facility, where their place in history will be contextualised in a proper manner.
Loading...