Loudoun's Inventory Of Confederate Symbols To Involve Public

LOUDOUN COUNTY, VA — Loudoun County is inviting residents to participate in an inventory of roads, buildings, signs and other public infrastructure that memorialize Confederate and segregationist figures or history in the county.

Residents can submit any Confederate or segregationist symbols they find through a new online mapping tool.

Last year, the Loudoun County Board of Supervisors voted to launch an inventory of public Confederate and segregationist symbols in the county. The board also directed staff to begin a planning process toward renaming Harry Flood Byrd Highway (Route 7) and John Mosby Highway (Route 50).

Byrd served as Virginia governor from 1926 to 1930 and U.S. senator from 1933 to 1965. His massive resistance campaign pushed for Southern states to reject the ruling of Brown v. Board of Education, cutting off state funding and closing schools that tried to integrate.

Mosby, a Confederate colonel during the American Civil War, led a group of Rangers who engaged in guerrilla warfare against Union forces.

The Loudoun County Board of Supervisors wants to include the public in its ongoing effort to review Confederate and segregationist symbols across the county.

Staff from the county departments of Planning and Zoning and Transportation and Capital Infrastructure and the Office of Mapping and Geographic Information are working to provide a comprehensive list of Confederate symbols to the board.

Through the online map and survey, the public can submit information about items potentially named after or memorializing Confederate or segregationist figures, including battlefields; buildings; county-owned and Virginia Department of Transportation-owned road or street names; logos; markers or monuments; and signs.

The online tool allows the public to submit a description of the features, pertinent historical information and map locations, as well as upload photos.

Schools and school mascots are not included in the county inventory. Loudoun County Public Schools is currently conducting an independent review of these items.

The inventory is also limited to public items that memorialize a Confederate leader, the Confederate cause, or individuals or movements that promoted and implemented racial segregation laws in Virginia during the eras of Jim Crow (1896-1965) and Massive Resistance to desegregation (1954-1959). The inventory will not include any privately owned items on private property.

“The county’s expansive geography, combined with its complex history from the Civil War through desegregation, requires a comprehensive research effort to identify these objects and sites,” the county said. “By involving the public as well as local historians and community groups, the county plans to thoroughly inventory all possible Confederate and segregationist symbols throughout Loudoun.”

The online map will be open for public submissions until April 30, and the inventory is scheduled to be presented to the Board of Supervisors by June.

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