Confederate artworks in the United States Capitol

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There are seven Confederate figures in the National Statuary Hall Collection, in the United States Capitol. National Statuary Hall Collection.jpg
There are seven Confederate figures in the National Statuary Hall Collection, in the United States Capitol.

There are several works of art in the United States Capitol honoring former leaders of the Confederate States of America and generals in the Confederate States Army, including seven statues in the National Statuary Hall Collection, busts and portraits. [1]

Contents

These include the President of the Confederacy, Jefferson Davis, the Vice President, Alexander H. Stephens, and former U.S. President John Tyler, who sided with the Confederate cause and negotiated the terms for Virginia's entry into the Confederate States of America. [1]

National Statuary Hall Collection

In the National Statuary Hall Collection, housed inside the United States Capitol, each state has provided statues of two citizens that the state wants to honor. Seven Confederate figures are among them, with one pending removal and replacement. The dates listed below reflect when each statue was given to the collection: [2] [3]

Other art representing Confederates in the Capitol

Recent removals

The statue of Jabez Lamar Monroe Curry (Alabama, 1908) was replaced by a statue of Helen Keller in 2009. [14]

On June 18, 2020, Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi ordered four paintings of former Confederates removed from the Speaker's Gallery in the Capitol in the wake of the nationwide protests over the murder of George Floyd while in police custody. [15] "We didn't know about this until we were taking inventory of the statues and the curator told us that there were four paintings of Speakers in the Capitol of the United States, four Speakers who had served in the Confederacy," Pelosi told reporters in the Capitol. [15]

The statue of Robert E. Lee (Virginia, 1909) [16] was removed on December 21, 2020. [17] [18] In January 2023, the design of a replacement statue of Barbara Rose Johns was revealed. At the time, sculptor Steven Weitzman stated that the statue would be ready for installation sometime in 2024. [18]

The statue of Edmund Kirby Smith (Florida, 1922) was removed in 2021 and replaced by a statue of Mary McLeod Bethune in 2022. [19]

Unsuccessful legislation for removal

On July 22, 2020, in the midst of the George Floyd protests, the U.S. House of Representatives voted 305–113 to remove a bust of Chief Justice Roger B. Taney (as well as statues honoring figures who were part of the Confederacy during the Civil War) from the U.S. Capitol and replace it with a bust of Justice Thurgood Marshall. The bill called for removal of Taney's bust within 30 days after the law's passage. The bust had been mounted in the old robing room adjacent to the Old Supreme Court Chamber in the Capitol Building. The bill (H.R. 7573 [20] ) also created a "process to obtain a bust of Marshall ... and place it there within a minimum of two years." [21] After the bill reached the Republican-led Senate on 30 July 2020 (S.4382) it was referred to the Committee on Rules and Administration, but no further action on it was taken. [22]

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">United States Capitol</span> Meeting place of the United States Congress

The United States Capitol, often called The Capitol or the Capitol Building, is the seat of the United States Congress, the legislative branch of the federal government. It is located on Capitol Hill at the eastern end of the National Mall in Washington, D.C. Though no longer at the geographic center of the federal district, the Capitol forms the origin point for the street-numbering system of the district as well as its four quadrants.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">National Statuary Hall</span> Chamber in the United States Capitol

The National Statuary Hall is a chamber in the United States Capitol devoted to sculptures of prominent Americans. The hall, also known as the Old Hall of the House, is a large, two-story, semicircular room with a second story gallery along the curved perimeter. It is located immediately south of the Rotunda. The meeting place of the U.S. House of Representatives for nearly 50 years (1807–1857), after a few years of disuse in 1864 it was repurposed as a statuary hall; this is when the National Statuary Hall Collection was established. By 1933, the collection had outgrown this single room, and a number of statues are placed elsewhere within the Capitol.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Edmund Kirby Smith</span> Confederate States Army general

General Edmund Kirby Smith was a senior officer of the Confederate States Army who commanded the Trans-Mississippi Department from 1863 to 1865. Before the American Civil War, Smith served as an officer of the United States Army.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Maryland State House</span> State capitol building of the U.S. state of Maryland

The Maryland State House is located in Annapolis, Maryland. It is the oldest U.S. state capitol in continuous legislative use, dating to 1772 and houses the Maryland General Assembly, plus the offices of the Governor and Lieutenant Governor. In 1783 and 1784 it served as the capitol building of the United States Congress of the Confederation, and is where Ratification Day, the formal end of the American Revolutionary War, occurred.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">National Statuary Hall Collection</span> Collection of statues in the US Capitol of notable individuals from each state

The National Statuary Hall Collection in the United States Capitol is composed of statues donated by individual states to honor persons notable in their history. Limited to two statues per state, the collection was originally set up in the old Hall of the House of Representatives, which was then renamed National Statuary Hall. The expanding collection has since been spread throughout the Capitol and its Visitor's Center.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kentucky State Capitol</span> State capitol building of the U.S. state of Kentucky

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Virginia State Capitol</span> State capitol building of the U.S. state of Virginia

The Virginia State Capitol is the seat of state government of the Commonwealth of Virginia, located in Richmond, the third capital city of the U.S. state of Virginia. It houses the oldest elected legislative body in North America, the Virginia General Assembly, first established as the House of Burgesses in 1619.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Old Supreme Court Chamber</span> United States Capitol room

The Old Supreme Court Chamber is the room on the ground floor of the North Wing of the United States Capitol. From 1800 to 1806, the room was the lower half of the first United States Senate chamber, and from 1810 to 1860, the courtroom for the Supreme Court of the United States.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Roger B. Taney</span> Chief justice of the United States from 1836 to 1864

Roger Brooke Taney was the fifth chief justice of the United States, holding that office from 1836 until his death in 1864. Taney infamously delivered the majority opinion in Dred Scott v. Sandford (1857), ruling that African Americans could not be considered U.S. citizens and that Congress could not prohibit slavery in the U.S. territories. Prior to joining the U.S. Supreme Court, Taney served as the U.S. attorney general and U.S. secretary of the treasury under President Andrew Jackson. He was the first Catholic to serve on the Supreme Court.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Removal of Confederate monuments and memorials</span> Ongoing controversy in the United States

More than 160 monuments and memorials to the Confederate States of America and associated figures have been removed from public spaces in the United States, all but five since 2015. Some have been removed by state and local governments; others have been torn down by protestors.

Robert E. Lee is a bronze sculpture commemorating the general of the same name by Edward Virginius Valentine, formerly installed in the crypt of the United States Capitol as part of the National Statuary Hall Collection. The statue was given by the commonwealth of Virginia in 1909. On December 21, 2020, the sculpture was removed from the grounds of the United States Capitol and relocated to the Virginia Museum of History & Culture.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Statue of Edmund Kirby Smith</span>

Edmund Kirby Smith is a bronze sculpture commemorating the Confederate officer of the same name by C. Adrian Pillars that was installed in the United States Capitol Visitor Center as part of the National Statuary Hall Collection from 1922 to 2021. The statue was gifted by the state of Florida in 1922.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Statue of Alexander H. Stephens</span> Statue by Gutzon Borglum

Alexander H. Stephens is a marble sculpture commemorating the American politician of the same name by Gutzon Borglum, installed in the United States Capitol as part of the National Statuary Hall Collection. The statue was gifted by the state of Georgia in 1927.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Statue of Jefferson Davis (U.S. Capitol)</span> Statue of Jefferson Davis by Henry Augustus Lukeman in Washington, D.C., U.S.

Jefferson Davis, created by Henry Augustus Lukeman, is a bronze sculpture of Jefferson Davis – a U.S. Senator, U.S. Secretary of War, plantation owner and the only President of the Confederate States of America – commissioned by the U.S. State of Mississippi for inclusion in National Statuary Hall Collection at the United States Capitol's National Statuary Hall, in Washington, D.C. The statue was controversial at the time of its unveiling and there have been multiple efforts to remove it from the Capitol since 2015.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Statues of the National Statuary Hall Collection</span> List of statues in the National Statuary Hall Collection

The National Statuary Hall Collection holds statues donated by each of the United States, portraying notable persons in the histories of the respective states. Displayed in the National Statuary Hall and other parts of the United States Capitol in Washington, D.C., the collection includes two statues from each state, except for Virginia which currently has one, making a total of 99.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Statue of U. M. Rose</span> Sculpture by Frederick Ruckstull

Uriah M. Rose, or Uriah Milton Rose, is a marble sculpture depicting the American lawyer of the same name by Frederick Ruckstull, installed in the United States Capitol's National Statuary Hall, in Washington, D.C., as part of the National Statuary Hall Collection. The statue was gifted by the U.S. state of Arkansas in 1917.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Statue of Jefferson Davis (Frankfort, Kentucky)</span> Statue in Frankfort, Kentucky, U.S.

The Statue of Jefferson Davis was unveiled in the Kentucky State Capitol Rotunda, in Frankfort, Kentucky on December 10, 1936. It depicts Jefferson Davis, president of the Confederate States of America. It was erected under the auspices of the United Daughters of the Confederacy. It remained there until June 13, 2020. The Historic Properties Advisory Commission voted to move the statue out of the Rotunda to the Jefferson Davis State Historic Site near Fairview, Kentucky.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">United States Capitol art</span>

The United States Capitol displays public artworks by a variety of artists, including the National Statuary Hall Collection and United States Senate Vice Presidential Bust Collection.

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 Grosvenor, Edwin (June 2020). "Confederates in Congress: Heritage or Hate?". American Heritage Magazine. 65:3 (June 2020). Archived from the original on January 22, 2021. Retrieved June 18, 2020.
  2. ↑ DeBonis, Mike (June 23, 2015). "A field guide to the racists commemorated inside the U.S. Capitol". The Washington Post. Retrieved August 20, 2017.
  3. ↑ Brockell, Gillian; Brockell, Gillian (August 16, 2017). "How statues of Robert E. Lee and other Confederates got into the U.S. Capitol". The Washington Post. ISSN   0190-8286 . Retrieved August 20, 2017.
  4. ↑ "Zebulon Vance". Architect of the Capitol. Retrieved August 28, 2017.
  5. ↑ "Uriah Milton Rose". Architect of the Capitol. Retrieved April 7, 2018.
  6. ↑ Peters, Ben (April 17, 2019). "Johnny Cash is replacing one of the Capitol's Civil War statues". Roll Call. Retrieved May 30, 2023.
  7. ↑ Simpson, Stephen (January 1, 2023). "Arkansas' Bates, Cash statues receive final approvals, ready for bronzing". Arkansas Democrat Gazette. Retrieved May 30, 2023.
  8. ↑ "Joseph Wheeler". Architect of the Capitol. Retrieved August 28, 2017.
  9. ↑ "Alexander Hamilton Stephens". Architect of the Capitol. Retrieved August 28, 2017.
  10. ↑ "Wade Hampton". Architect of the Capitol. Retrieved August 28, 2017.
  11. ↑ "Jefferson Davis". Architect of the Capitol. Retrieved August 28, 2017.
  12. ↑ "James Zachariah George". Architect of the Capitol. Retrieved August 28, 2017.
  13. ↑ Journal of the Congress of the Confederate States of America, 1861–1865 Volume 1. U.S. Government Printing Office. 1904. pp. 303, 658.
  14. ↑ "Helen Keller". Architect of the Capitol. Archived from the original on June 10, 2017. Retrieved August 19, 2017.
  15. 1 2 Marcos, Christina. "Pelosi orders removal of Confederate portraits in Capitol". TheHill.com. Archived from the original on June 18, 2020. Retrieved June 18, 2020.
  16. ↑ "Robert E. Lee". Architect of the Capitol. April 29, 2016. Archived from the original on August 18, 2017. Retrieved August 28, 2017.
  17. ↑ Forgery, Quint (December 21, 2020). "Robert E. Lee statue removed from Capitol". Politico. Archived from the original on December 27, 2020. Retrieved December 21, 2020.
  18. 1 2 Stewart, Ian M. (January 4, 2023). "Barbara Rose Johns statue design unveiled". VPM. Retrieved May 30, 2023.
  19. ↑ "Mary McLeod Bethune becomes first Black American honored in U.S. Capitol's Statuary Hall". PBS NewsHour. July 13, 2022. Archived from the original on July 14, 2022. Retrieved May 30, 2023.
  20. ↑ "H.R.7573 – To direct the Joint Committee on the Library to replace the bust of Roger Brooke Taney in the Old Supreme Court Chamber of the United States Capitol with a bust of Thurgood Marshall to be obtained by the Joint Committee on the Library and to remove certain statues from areas of the United States Capitol which are accessible to the public, to remove all statues of individuals who voluntarily served the Confederate States of America from display in the United States Capitol, and for other purposes". congress.gov. July 22, 2020. Archived from the original on November 1, 2020. Retrieved November 2, 2020.
  21. ↑ Walsh, Deirdre (July 22, 2020). "House Passes Bill Removing Confederate Statues, Other Figures From Capitol". NPR. Archived from the original on July 23, 2020. Retrieved July 23, 2020.
  22. ↑ "S. 4382: A bill to direct the Joint Committee on the Library to replace the bust of Roger Brooke Taney in the Old Supreme Court Chamber of the Capitol with a bust of Thurgood Marshall to be obtained by the Joint Committee on the Library and to remove certain statues from areas of the Capitol which are accessible to the public, to remove all statues of individuals who voluntarily served the Confederate States of America from display in the Capitol, and for other purposes". govtrack.us. July 30, 2020. Archived from the original on February 2, 2021. Retrieved November 2, 2020.
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