WILLIAMSBURG, Va. — Williamsburg is joining the list of cities removing Confederate monuments.
On Tuesday, City Council unanimously authorized the removal of a Confederate monument from Bicentennial Park, and to abandon its interest in the monument to the United Daughters of the Confederacy, subject to the UDC taking possession of the monument prior to January 31, 2021.
If the UDC fails to take possession of the monument, the City will consider the monument abandoned and get rid of it accordingly.
The motion also states that the Council authorizes the City Manager to execute documents abandoning the City’s interest to the UDC once the UDC takes possession of the monument and it is moved to the location identified by the UDC, and Council authorizes the City Manager to pay the reasonable cost of moving the monument to storage and then to the location identified by the UDC using his discretion for reasonable costs.
Dozens of people spoke during a public hearing Tuesday afternoon. The majority were in favor of moving it, but there were others who demanded that it stay in Bicentennial Park.
Last month, someone spray-painted the letter X and the letters "BLM" on the statue. Those messages still are visible.
Lavonda Saunders understands the reason why these monuments are coming down, but she believes they're part of history.
“I still feel like we need to know about our past in order to move forward,” Saunders said. “This one is not a person I so I would be okay with it staying up.”
Tom Thompson thinks the decision is long overdue.
“I think they should be put in museums, not destroyed,” Thompson said. “If they want to go in and learn more and see them, fine. But when they're left in public they can be seen as an object of veneration, or people who don't know the history can look and say, 'this is a great person.'”
Beginning in 1905, the United Daughters of the Confederacy (the UDC) began soliciting funds with which to erect a monument to Confederate soldiers and sailors of the City of Williamsburg and James City County.
The Williamsburg City Council and the James City County Board of Supervisors each appropriated $500 for the purchase and erection of the monument. The UDC then raised an additional $500 in private donations.
The City Council then authorized the placement of the monument on Palace Green and it was erected in 1908 and remained there until 1932. When Palace Green was sold to the Williamsburg Holding Company, the monument was then moved to the courthouse property on South England Street and remained there from 1932 to 1969. When the courthouse was moved to Court Street in 1969, the monument was moved to the new courthouse property.
When the courthouse was again moved in in 1999 to Monticello Avenue, the monument remained on the property on Court Street, which was then subsequently purchased by the Colonial Williamsburg Foundation. The UDC then requested that the monument be moved to Bicentennial Park, which request was approved by City Council on May 11, 2000. The monument has since remained in Bicentennial Park.