This is the Appomattox statue in Alexandria Virginia, a monument constructed in 1889 to honor Alexandria's Confederate dead in the US Civil War. Since then, it has been at the center of debates about the use of public space.
People wrestle with the decision to honor the history of those who supported the Southern Confederacy's secession from the Union, which was largely in order to continue racialized slavery. Opponents have argued that the statue stands as a testament to intolerance and racism, and that although the statue is still privately owned by the United Daughters of the Confederacy, the fact that it's situated on public land means that it should be torn down because it represents a racist and harmful viewpoint.
Those in favor of keeping the statue where it is remark that the Confederacy, no matter how outdated and incorrect its stances, was a part of US history and that this history shouldn't be forgotten. So today I'll open up the conversation to look at how monuments like this one represent the US's struggle to accurately describe its more painful histories.
I'll discuss why so many Confederate and other Civil War monuments were built between the late 19th century and the first half of the 20th century, and what impulses drove their construction during those crucial years after the war. Appomattox notably doesn't show an image of an army general or Confederate politician.
Rather, it's a simple rank and file soldier with his hat in his hand and his head bowed in defeat. On the base are the names of Alexandrians who died fighting for the Confederacy.
This gesture isn't uncommon in monuments of fallen soldiers, but its subject has made it cause for public concern. Claims that Confederate iconography are synonymous with "Southern Heritage" has raised well founded questions about "whose heritage" and "who does this history support or vilify?"
And that's in large part because in erecting monuments after a conflict, it's highly unusual for the side that definitively lost to be honored, let alone to occupy public space. Which is why the image of Appomattox, with a visibly defeated Confederate soldier standing in commemoration of his lost cause and fallen comrades is quite unusual.
Rather than raising the now infamous call that "the South shall rise again" both his posture and the inscription of the plaque below his feet indicate otherwise. Around 2015 and 2016, the US increased the attention it paid to the civil war monuments scattered across the country honoring Confederate generals and soldiers.
Arguments raged on both sides of the debate, with proponents of tearing down these statues noting the inflammatory and racist politics of the men that they were meant to honor. They also called for the immediate removal of Confederate flags from state symbols.
Those in favor of keeping the symbols and statues argued that these signs were indicative of US history and even if they were abhorrent, they should not be hidden or forgotten. As headlines circulated around protesters on both sides of the debate, questions started to arise about why the US had so much Confederate iconography to begin with.
