Confederate Monument Removal, 2015-2020: A Mapping Project
Following the 2020 death of George Floyd, the removal of Confederate monuments and others connected to slavery, settler colonialism, and white supremacy accelerated at a staggering pace. This 2020 monument represents a third distinct phase of communities reckoning with its commemorative landscape. The 2015 Charleston Massacre and 2017 Charlottesville events saw some removals and increased community conversations nationally and globally.
Created in June 2020 and updated weekly, this mapping project seeks to document and map the Confederate monuments, memorials, and plaques removed, promised for removals and renaming and other examples connected with global white supremacy. The various layers help to provide some insight of a five-year period within the broader history of the Confederate monuments. Each entry includes the location, dedication year, removal year and a URL link to the media coverage.
It is not exhaustive. Street names, K-12 schools (names, traditions or mascots) and flags, for instance, are not included in this survey. Nor are the African American institutions created in the wake of the Civil War but removed due to urban renewal, neglect, or gentrification. These are all important future projects that can be done and ones where students, non-academics and scholars can work together in building.
Legend of Pin Colors:
Confederate monuments (blue), promised removals, renaming, and lawsuits (yellow), global white supremacy examples (green) and other monuments (orange)
Created in June 2020 and updated weekly, this mapping project seeks to document and map the Confederate monuments, memorials, and plaques removed, promised for removals and renaming and other examples connected with global white supremacy. The various layers help to provide some insight of a five-year period within the broader history of the Confederate monuments. Each entry includes the location, dedication year, removal year and a URL link to the media coverage.
It is not exhaustive. Street names, K-12 schools (names, traditions or mascots) and flags, for instance, are not included in this survey. Nor are the African American institutions created in the wake of the Civil War but removed due to urban renewal, neglect, or gentrification. These are all important future projects that can be done and ones where students, non-academics and scholars can work together in building.
Legend of Pin Colors:
Confederate monuments (blue), promised removals, renaming, and lawsuits (yellow), global white supremacy examples (green) and other monuments (orange)
Publications
- “2. Shifting Landscapes and the Monument Removal Craze, 2015-2020,” in Remembering Wrongs in Public Space: Forum in Reaction to the Toppling of Edward Colston in Bristol, June 2020, Patterns of Prejudice 54, no. 5 (August 2021): 485-491.