Virginia’s statue of Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee has been at the U.S. Capitol’s Statuary Hall for more than a century.
Gov. Ralph Northam will push legislation in next year’s General Assembly session asking lawmakers to replace a statue of Robert E. Lee in the U.S. Capitol.
Lee and George Washington represent Virginia in the National Statuary Hall Collection in the Capitol. Virginia provided the statue of Lee, in his Confederate uniform, in 1909.
U.S. Reps. A. Donald McEachin, D-4th, and Jennifer Wexton, D-10th, wrote a letter to Northam on Friday asking him to push state legislation to notify the U.S. Capitol architect that Virginia would replace Lee with one of “countless commendable Virginians who would better represent our Commonwealth in the U.S. Capitol than a Confederate General.”
Northam spokesman Alena Yarmosky said Monday that the Northam administration has been working on the issue for several months and a bill will be filed for next year’s General Assembly session.
“We have discussed this issue previously with the offices of Rep. McEachin and Rep. Wexton, and we look forward to continuing to work with them and all others who are committed to making Virginia open, inclusive, and equitable,” she said by email.
McEachin and Wexton said in their letter that prominent Virginians such as Nat Turner, who led a slave rebellion, or educator and author Booker T. Washington are among those who would better represent Virginia in the National Statuary Hall Collection.
The statues of Lee and other Confederates in the Capitol have become more controversial as states and localities grapple with public memorials honoring those who fought for the preservation of slavery.
Alabama and Florida have removed statues in the U.S. Capitol honoring Confederates, McEachin and Wexton wrote, and Florida and Arkansas are adding statues of civil rights activists Mary McLeod Bethune and Daisy Bates.
“As Virginians, we have a responsibility to not only learn from but also confront our history,” McEachin and Wexton wrote. “As part of this responsibility, we must strive for a more complete telling of history by raising up the voices, stories and memories of minorities and people of color. In doing so, we should consider what monuments we can add to acknowledge the horrors of slavery, expose the injustices of institutional racism, and honor those who dedicated their lives to fighting for equality.”
