On July 1, 2020, the Stonewall Jackson statue on Monument Avenue in Richmond, Virginia, the former capital city of the Confederacy was removed.

The removal of the statue of Jackson comes after years of the community demanding its removal and the recent protests against police violence and other racial injustices. 

This statue, like many other similar monuments, was put up for the sole purpose of discriminating against and intimidating the Black community in the City of Richmond. Most monuments and statues of Confederate soldiers and leaders were erected during the era of Jim Crow laws in order to continue the oppression of Black people and make it clear that they were still not welcome despite the progress that the Civil Rights Movement was making.

In 2017, after the Unite the Right Rally in Charlottesville, two of Jackson’s great-great grandsons wrote an open letter to Richmond Mayor Levar Stoney, asking that he remove the Jackson monument. After nearly three years, their request is being honored.

Warren Christian also recently spoke before the Prince William County School Board to ask them to rename Stonewall Jackson High School to Dr. Ibram X. Kendi, an anti-racist scholar and a graduate of the school. The school board chose the name Unity Reed High School instead.

The removal of Jackson’s statue comes after Stoney’s announcement Wednesday that he is ordering the immediate removal of Confederate statues and monuments in Richmond.