Virginia universities reckon with Confederate symbols
FILE PHOTO: Demonstrators pulled down the Richmond Howitzers Monument at Virginia Commonwealth University (June 2020). The university was in the process of auditing Confederate symbols on its two campuses and has since begun removal and renaming of those symbols. Photo by Andrew Ringle, The Commonwealth Times. (Source: Capitol News Service)
By Katharine DeRosa | Capital News Service | May 10, 2021 at 6:22 PM EDT - Updated May 11 at 12:30 PM
RICHMOND, Va. - Virginia universities in the former heart of the Confederacy are reckoning with their past as students, faculty, and staff call for the removal of Confederate symbols.
Richmond housed the capital of the Confederacy from 1861 to 1865. Over 150 years later, remnants of the commonwealth’s Confederate history remain, including in academia.