Athens Confederate Monument

The Athens Confederate Monument is a Confederate memorial located in the median strip of Broad Street in the Downtown Local Historic District of Athens, Georgia, United States.[1] It is a Carrara marble obelisk mounted on a granite foundation engraved with names of the city's soldiers who were killed during the American Civil War.

Athens Confederate Monument
The monument in 2007
Year1872 (1872)
Medium
LocationAthens, Georgia, U.S.
Coordinates33°57′27.6″N 83°22′31.7″W

Description

The monument is made up of two different sections, an obelisk made of Carrara marble that has six shafts, and a granite base. Only the marble obelisk is engraved. The names of soldiers from Athens who were killed during the Civil War are inscribed on the marble. A veteran of the war called for the names to be arranged in alphabetical order rather than by rank so none of their deaths were to be perceived as greater than each others, but his request was left unfulfilled.[2]

History

The University of Georgia's Scott Nesbit points out that the Athens monument was one of the first monuments to the casualties of the American Civil War to be raised in the South after its conclusion.[3] Construction of the monument began on May 5, 1871 and was completed on June 3, 1872 at the cost of $4,444.44 (about $933,000 in 2020) raised by the Ladies' Memorial Association from the residents of the city, though another professor at the university, Akela Reason, proposed that it was actually funded by the city's wealthy men because "it would have been easier for women to build a memorial mourning the dead than for men to build one in defiance."[4] It has been moved twice since it was first erected at the intersection of College Avenue and Washington Street. It was first moved north one block in the center of College Avenue, but was moved again when it caused congestion to its current location.[2]

Discussions by the city and local activists to remove the monument began after the Charleston church shooting in 2015.[4] After the killing of George Floyd by Minneapolis police the area around the monument became the rally point for the city's protest. Protesters called for the monument to be removed.[5]

In response to the local outcry it is planned for the monument to be moved again from its current location in downtown Athens in 2020 by Athens mayor, Kelly Girtz. The mayor's desire to move the monument is challenged by Senate Bill 77, which prevents the city from moving Confederate monuments from prominent locations to another of lower prominence, but a loophole in the bill could allow the monument to be removed.[6][7][8] On June 16, 2020, the mayor proposed a $450,000 plan that would have the monument moved from Broad Street to Timothy Place in proximity to the site of the Athens' only skirmish during the Civil War at Barber Creek.[9]

See also

References
  1. "Map of the Downtown Local Historic District". Athens-Clarke County Unified Government. 2017. Retrieved June 11, 2020.
  2. E. Merton Coulter (September 1956). "The Confederate Monument In Athens, Georgia". The Georgia Historical Quarterly. 40 3: 230–247.
  3. Charlotte Norsworthy (August 24, 2017). "Division on Broad Street: Confederate monument in the heart of Athens stirs controversy". The Red & Black. Retrieved June 10, 2020.
  4. Blake Aued (September 27, 2017). "Athens Anti-Discrimination Movement Calls to Take Down Confederate Monument". Flagpole Magazine. Retrieved June 10, 2020.
  5. "Athens mayor, commissioners call for the relocation of Confederate monument". WAGA-TV. June 4, 2020. Retrieved June 10, 2020.
  6. Sofi Gratas (June 4, 2020). "Athens Mayor Calls For Removal Of Confederate Monument In Wake Of Recent Protests". GPB News. Retrieved June 10, 2020.
  7. "2019-2020 Regular Session - SB 77 State Flag, Seal, and other Symbols". Act of April 26, 2019. 155th Georgia General Assembly.
  8. Chris Dowd (June 5, 2020). "Mayor Girtz Calls for Removing Confederate Monument". Flagpole Magazine. Retrieved June 10, 2020.
  9. Lee Shearer (June 18, 2020). "As Savannah waits, Athens proposes plan to move Confederate memorial to Civil War battle site". Retrieved June 22, 2020.
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