Confederate monuments: Atlanta to add racism context to historic monuments, leave them in place
Published 7:12 am Thursday, August 1, 2019
Atlanta will soon add lessons about the South’s racist history on markers placed next to four historic monuments.
Officials say the first of the panels could be installed as early as Friday.
In Atlanta’s Piedmont Park, a 1911 Peace Monument commemorating post- Civil War reconciliation will get context noting that its inscription promotes a narrative centered on white veterans, while ignoring African Americans.
Georgia law bars the removal of such monuments. Other states with laws protecting Confederate monuments include Alabama, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee and Virginia.
Atlanta History Center President and CEO Sheffield Hale says the project puts the city ahead of other communities grappling with what to do about monuments.
Hale says context provided by the markers will help people to have civil discussions based on facts.