A Statue of Civil Rights Activist Barbara Rose Johns May Soon Replace One of Robert E. Lee in the US Capitol Building
The new statue would commemorate a key figure in the Brown vs. Board of Ed Supreme Court decision.
December 21, 2020
Virginia's statue of Robert E. Lee in the US Capitol. Photo: Jack Mayer, Office of Governor Northam.
Early this morning, workers removed a statue of Confederate General Robert E. Lee from the US Capitol building in Washington, DC.
Erected in 1909, the sculpture was one of two representing Virginia in the building’s National Statuary Hall, where every state gets two statues. Lee’s figure was located in the Crypt, where 13 statues represent the original 13 colonies. It will now be moved to the Virginia Museum of History and Culture in the state capital of Richmond.