Removal of Essex County Confederate Monument
Donation protected
Hello, and Happy Holidays,
My name is Reginald Carter, and I am a native of Tappahannock, Virginia. Like many, I was called to action after viewing the death of Mr. George Floyd. Most do not know anything about Tappahannock, VA, other than it's the hometown of Chris Brown. Tappahannock is also home to one of America's 780 confederate monuments. Women and men of all races find the Essex County Confederate Monument to be offensive. Some residents believe that the monument could be argued as a "badge of slavery" under cases interpreting the 13th Amendment to the United States Constitution, as the Essex County Confederate Monument is located just outside of the Essex County Courthouse. We have engaged in various forms of protest. On June 10, 2020, over 300 men, women, and children came out to march for justice and racial equity in Tappahannock. Activists and organizers- including young white Americans- recognized the need to change the culture in their community, state, and nation. Demonstrators marched for two-miles and descended upon the 27-foot tall granite statue lying in a median on Prince Street.
On September 20, 2020, we released a short documentary titled March on Tappahannock. The short documentary aims to raise awareness regarding racial inequality in rural towns such as Tappahannock, Virginia. Which, like other small towns in the South, is the real final frontier for the Confederacy's ideology of white supremacy. This short documentary aimed to assist with the removal of the confederate monument and assist with the removal of all other confederate symbols located within the town by shedding light on their existence. On September 21, 2020, we also partnered with Whitney and Ricky Parker of Dream for Purpose to advertise their "Black is Beautiful" art installation in Tappahannock for eight weeks, emphasizing having the artwork displayed on Election Day.
The Essex County Confederate monument was erected in 1909 by the Essex United Daughters of the Confederacy, near the beginning of the sad and troubled "Jim Crow" era of Virginia and American history. A time in history when many of the liberties achieved for Blacks after the Civil War were rolled back and strict segregation became the law of the land. In Essex County, Blacks had voting and political power from the late 1860s into the 1890s. These fundamental rights were eliminated in the early 1900s, and only a handful of Blacks could vote in Essex County because of new poll taxes, strict registration tests imposed on Black but not White voters, and other racial discrimination. Jim Crow laws were passed at this time to segregate Blacks in schools, businesses, and all aspects of social life.
In the early 1900s, at the same time when Blacks were being subjugated by law, violence, and social practice, nostalgia for the Confederacy swept across White Southerners. With Blacks eliminated from political power and rendered second class citizens as a matter of law, governments across the South approved the erection of new Confederate monuments. Usually built in front of the courthouse, as was the Essex monument, the Confederate monuments were a potent symbol that Whites were back in control, and the Confederacy – whose constitution and laws exalted and protected enslavement of Blacks – should be openly praised. This is the context and central meaning of this monument. It is far more than honoring the sacrifice of soldiers.
What does this monument mean now? The monument was erected "in memory of the soldiers and sailors of (Essex) county who were killed or died in service of the confederacy." On bronze plaques, there are listed 770 names of confederate officers and soldiers who "fought for the principles of state sovereignty and in defense of their homes." Those men fought and died to defend their right to own and inherit slaves.
On Wednesday, November 11, 2020, the Essex County Board of Supervisors Chairman John C. Magruder discussed three potential options for the Confederate Monument during a public hearing. One of the three options was to relocate the monument to Essex Cemetery. Chairman Magruder's comments regarding the relocation were: "The Essex Cemetery was dedicated as a veteran's cemetery in 1931. If the monument represents a symbol of honoring those who served during the Civil War, then a veteran's cemetery is a fitting place for that to be." Magruder stated that such an effort would include the relocation of the entire structure to the cemetery, and guesstimates regarding this action were up to $250,000.
In reference to the Board's guesstimates regarding the cost of removing or relocating the monument, our research has determined that past precedence is nowhere near the $250,000 figure that was provided. According to the Culpeper Star Exponent, the cost to relocate the Confederate monument in Caroline county was less than $6,000. According to the Williamsburg Yorktown Daily, the cost to remove the confederate monument located in Williamsburg, VA, was approximately $8,000. Lastly, according to the Brunswick Times-Gazette, the cost to remove the confederate monument located in Brunswick, VA, was $30,070, with $27,600 being allocated for removal of the monument, $2,100 for the restoration of the site, and other costs of $1,000.
On June 4, 2020, Virginia Governor Ralph Northam announced that Richmond's largest Confederate statue would be removed. Today, we are calling for the removal of the confederate monument in Tappahannock, Virginia. Every day that it stands only upholds the values of the Jim Crow South that are long gone. It is hurtful to many of our citizens and does not reflect the County's commitment to building an American community dedicated to freedom and equal rights. Removing the statue on Prince Street symbolizes the dismantling of institutional racism. Removing the statue removes the symbolism of racial terror and validates that Black Lives do Matter. It should come down from our town center as soon as possible, and not receive any government approval or support. In January of 2021, the Board of Supervisors will present a resolution to remove the Essex County Confederate Monument from its current location on Prince Street. It is our hope and prayer that this resolution will be passed.
Virginia is no longer the capital of the Confederacy! If you would like to assist our cause, please donate to our GoFundMe. All donations will be used toward removing the statue from its current position of prominence on Prince Street and posting contextual information to tell a more accurate Essex County Civil War story. This new story will not just focus on the narrative that is being told today. It will include citizens like Mr. Lewis Corbin and Mr. Thomas Latane.
Mr. Corbin was enslaved on the Ware plantation in Dunnsville, Virginia. He escaped from the plantation and walked over 70 miles to Hampton, Virginia. In Hampton, he joined the Union Navy and fought to liberate Black people from slavery. He was stationed on the USS Ella, a steamboat used as a picket and patrol vessel, as well as a dispatch boat, on the Potomac River. After reigning victorious over the confederate army and completing his service for the Union Navy, he moved back to Dunnsville, Virginia, and helped form Angel Visit Baptist Church.
Mr. Latane was a Black soldier who also fought in the Civil War. However, he did not fight for the Confederacy. Mr. Latane served in the Union Army and lost his leg in combat. After the war, Mr. Latane returned to Tappahannock and became a political and civil leader.
Lastly, donations will go towards purchasing a historical marker for the only documented lynching in Essex County. This lynching had occurred during a time in which fundraising for the Essex County Confederate Monument had already commenced. On March 23, 1896, a black man, Thomas Washington, was lynched in Essex County for allegedly attempting to assault the 9-year-old daughter of a prominent white citizen in Essex County. On the night of March 23, 1896, Washington was hung to a tree on the public road between Cedar Fork and Center Cross, South of Tappahannock. The coroner jury viewed Mr. Washington's remains and found that he came to his death by hanging in a tree by the hands of unknown parties. The lynching of Thomas Washington was the first to occur since the election of Governor O'Farrell (Richmond Planet).
In the words of the late John Lewis, "Do not get lost in the sea of despair. Be hopeful, be optimistic. Our struggle is not the struggle of a day, a week, a month, or a year; it is the struggle of a lifetime. Never, ever be afraid to make some noise and get in good trouble, necessary trouble." Change does not end here; it starts here!
Happy Holidays, and God Bless,
My name is Reginald Carter, and I am a native of Tappahannock, Virginia. Like many, I was called to action after viewing the death of Mr. George Floyd. Most do not know anything about Tappahannock, VA, other than it's the hometown of Chris Brown. Tappahannock is also home to one of America's 780 confederate monuments. Women and men of all races find the Essex County Confederate Monument to be offensive. Some residents believe that the monument could be argued as a "badge of slavery" under cases interpreting the 13th Amendment to the United States Constitution, as the Essex County Confederate Monument is located just outside of the Essex County Courthouse. We have engaged in various forms of protest. On June 10, 2020, over 300 men, women, and children came out to march for justice and racial equity in Tappahannock. Activists and organizers- including young white Americans- recognized the need to change the culture in their community, state, and nation. Demonstrators marched for two-miles and descended upon the 27-foot tall granite statue lying in a median on Prince Street.
On September 20, 2020, we released a short documentary titled March on Tappahannock. The short documentary aims to raise awareness regarding racial inequality in rural towns such as Tappahannock, Virginia. Which, like other small towns in the South, is the real final frontier for the Confederacy's ideology of white supremacy. This short documentary aimed to assist with the removal of the confederate monument and assist with the removal of all other confederate symbols located within the town by shedding light on their existence. On September 21, 2020, we also partnered with Whitney and Ricky Parker of Dream for Purpose to advertise their "Black is Beautiful" art installation in Tappahannock for eight weeks, emphasizing having the artwork displayed on Election Day.
The Essex County Confederate monument was erected in 1909 by the Essex United Daughters of the Confederacy, near the beginning of the sad and troubled "Jim Crow" era of Virginia and American history. A time in history when many of the liberties achieved for Blacks after the Civil War were rolled back and strict segregation became the law of the land. In Essex County, Blacks had voting and political power from the late 1860s into the 1890s. These fundamental rights were eliminated in the early 1900s, and only a handful of Blacks could vote in Essex County because of new poll taxes, strict registration tests imposed on Black but not White voters, and other racial discrimination. Jim Crow laws were passed at this time to segregate Blacks in schools, businesses, and all aspects of social life.
In the early 1900s, at the same time when Blacks were being subjugated by law, violence, and social practice, nostalgia for the Confederacy swept across White Southerners. With Blacks eliminated from political power and rendered second class citizens as a matter of law, governments across the South approved the erection of new Confederate monuments. Usually built in front of the courthouse, as was the Essex monument, the Confederate monuments were a potent symbol that Whites were back in control, and the Confederacy – whose constitution and laws exalted and protected enslavement of Blacks – should be openly praised. This is the context and central meaning of this monument. It is far more than honoring the sacrifice of soldiers.
What does this monument mean now? The monument was erected "in memory of the soldiers and sailors of (Essex) county who were killed or died in service of the confederacy." On bronze plaques, there are listed 770 names of confederate officers and soldiers who "fought for the principles of state sovereignty and in defense of their homes." Those men fought and died to defend their right to own and inherit slaves.
On Wednesday, November 11, 2020, the Essex County Board of Supervisors Chairman John C. Magruder discussed three potential options for the Confederate Monument during a public hearing. One of the three options was to relocate the monument to Essex Cemetery. Chairman Magruder's comments regarding the relocation were: "The Essex Cemetery was dedicated as a veteran's cemetery in 1931. If the monument represents a symbol of honoring those who served during the Civil War, then a veteran's cemetery is a fitting place for that to be." Magruder stated that such an effort would include the relocation of the entire structure to the cemetery, and guesstimates regarding this action were up to $250,000.
In reference to the Board's guesstimates regarding the cost of removing or relocating the monument, our research has determined that past precedence is nowhere near the $250,000 figure that was provided. According to the Culpeper Star Exponent, the cost to relocate the Confederate monument in Caroline county was less than $6,000. According to the Williamsburg Yorktown Daily, the cost to remove the confederate monument located in Williamsburg, VA, was approximately $8,000. Lastly, according to the Brunswick Times-Gazette, the cost to remove the confederate monument located in Brunswick, VA, was $30,070, with $27,600 being allocated for removal of the monument, $2,100 for the restoration of the site, and other costs of $1,000.
On June 4, 2020, Virginia Governor Ralph Northam announced that Richmond's largest Confederate statue would be removed. Today, we are calling for the removal of the confederate monument in Tappahannock, Virginia. Every day that it stands only upholds the values of the Jim Crow South that are long gone. It is hurtful to many of our citizens and does not reflect the County's commitment to building an American community dedicated to freedom and equal rights. Removing the statue on Prince Street symbolizes the dismantling of institutional racism. Removing the statue removes the symbolism of racial terror and validates that Black Lives do Matter. It should come down from our town center as soon as possible, and not receive any government approval or support. In January of 2021, the Board of Supervisors will present a resolution to remove the Essex County Confederate Monument from its current location on Prince Street. It is our hope and prayer that this resolution will be passed.
Virginia is no longer the capital of the Confederacy! If you would like to assist our cause, please donate to our GoFundMe. All donations will be used toward removing the statue from its current position of prominence on Prince Street and posting contextual information to tell a more accurate Essex County Civil War story. This new story will not just focus on the narrative that is being told today. It will include citizens like Mr. Lewis Corbin and Mr. Thomas Latane.
Mr. Corbin was enslaved on the Ware plantation in Dunnsville, Virginia. He escaped from the plantation and walked over 70 miles to Hampton, Virginia. In Hampton, he joined the Union Navy and fought to liberate Black people from slavery. He was stationed on the USS Ella, a steamboat used as a picket and patrol vessel, as well as a dispatch boat, on the Potomac River. After reigning victorious over the confederate army and completing his service for the Union Navy, he moved back to Dunnsville, Virginia, and helped form Angel Visit Baptist Church.
Mr. Latane was a Black soldier who also fought in the Civil War. However, he did not fight for the Confederacy. Mr. Latane served in the Union Army and lost his leg in combat. After the war, Mr. Latane returned to Tappahannock and became a political and civil leader.
Lastly, donations will go towards purchasing a historical marker for the only documented lynching in Essex County. This lynching had occurred during a time in which fundraising for the Essex County Confederate Monument had already commenced. On March 23, 1896, a black man, Thomas Washington, was lynched in Essex County for allegedly attempting to assault the 9-year-old daughter of a prominent white citizen in Essex County. On the night of March 23, 1896, Washington was hung to a tree on the public road between Cedar Fork and Center Cross, South of Tappahannock. The coroner jury viewed Mr. Washington's remains and found that he came to his death by hanging in a tree by the hands of unknown parties. The lynching of Thomas Washington was the first to occur since the election of Governor O'Farrell (Richmond Planet).
In the words of the late John Lewis, "Do not get lost in the sea of despair. Be hopeful, be optimistic. Our struggle is not the struggle of a day, a week, a month, or a year; it is the struggle of a lifetime. Never, ever be afraid to make some noise and get in good trouble, necessary trouble." Change does not end here; it starts here!
Happy Holidays, and God Bless,
Organizer
Reginald Carter
Organizer
Richmond, VA