Maryland officials have voted to remove the state's last Confederate statue on public land, just a week after Richmond, Virginia tore do...
Maryland officials have voted to remove the state's last Confederate statue on public land, just a week after Richmond, Virginia tore down its Robert E. Lee monument.
The Talbot Boys statue, located on the lawn outside the Talbot County Courthouse, commemorates more than 80 soldiers who fought for the Confederacy.
On Tuesday, Talbot County Council voted 3-2 to approve a resolution to move the statue to a Virginia battleground more than 200 miles away.
The statue dedicated in 1916 is thought to be the last Confederate monument still standing on public property in Maryland besides cemeteries and battlefields.
It has been a topic of the debate in the community for years - as other Confederate monuments throughout the country came down, like Richmond’s Robert E. Lee statue that was removed last week, Talbot county leaders’ positions shifted.
The Talbot Boys statue, located on the lawn outside the Talbot County Courthouse, commemorates more than 80 soldiers who fought for the Confederacy
In May, civil rights advocates sued the county seeking the court-ordered removal of the statue depicting a soldier with a Confederate flag draped over one shoulder, calling it a racist symbol of oppression and claiming it is unconstitutional and illegal.
Private funds will cover the cost of relocating the statue to the private Cross Keys Battlefield in Harrisonburg, Virginia.
Council member Corey Pack, who previously opposed moving the statue, said the killing of George Floyd changed his mind, but a resolution he co-sponsored last year failed. Frank Divilio, who opposed removal last year, cast the deciding vote Tuesday.
For years, local activists have fought for the removal of the Jim Crow-era statue on the lawn adjacent to a former slave market site in Easton. The statue, they say, celebrates those who fought for the Confederacy while Maryland remained in the union.
Maryland officials have voted to remove the state's last Confederate statue on public land, just a week after Richmond, Virginia tore down its Robert E. Lee monument (pictured)
It has been a topic of the debate in the community for years - as other Confederate monuments throughout the country came down, like Richmond’s Robert E. Lee statue that was removed last week (pictured), Talbot county leaders’ positions shifted.
Many of these advocates were present at the Tuesday meeting in matching yellow shirts, cheering when the deciding vote was delivered, according to the Washington Post.
Other Easton residents characterized the decision as an erasure of history during the meeting's public comment period.
'As I see it, the county council has just said that Talbot County supports the effort of those people who want to erase the history of the United States and replace it with unrelenting hatred of those people who came before,” said resident David Montgomery.
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