Confederate Monuments In Washington: How Many Remain

SEATTLE, WA — The death of George Floyd reignited many who have long called on state leaders in the South to remove monuments, plaques and other symbols commemorating the Confederacy.

Floyd, a Black man, died on Memorial Day while in custody of Minneapolis police. In the weeks since Floyd’s death, several states including Washington, have heeded their call, according to a new analysis by BeenVerified.

2 Confederate monuments have been removed in Washington state since Floyd’s death, contributing to the total 52 monuments removed nationwide this year. One of those monuments was pulled down by protesters: The United Confederate Veterans Memorial was toppled on July 4. It had been placed in Seattle's Lake View Cemetery by the United Daughters of the Confederacy in 1926, a 10 ton slab of quartz monzonite— which had been taken from Stone Mountain, the birthplace of the modern Ku Klux Klan. In the years leading up to its removal it had been vandalized several times and called out by activists and politicians alike as an inappropriate symbol of hate. It's removal makes it one of just eight confederate monuments pulled down by protesters this year.

Elsewhere, Virginia, North Carolina and Texas are the states that have removed the most Confederate monuments recently. Virginia has removed 12, while North Carolina removed nine and Texas six.

The analysis used 2019 data collected from the Southern Poverty Law Center in addition to dozens of 2020 media reports to reflect Confederate symbols that have fallen in recent weeks.

Since 2013, these states have removed the most Confederate monuments and symbols, according to the analysis:

• Texas, 40 monuments
• Virginia, 30 monuments
• Florida, 17 monuments
• North Carolina, 15 monuments
• Tennessee, 11 monuments

While the analysis shows 190 Confederate symbols have been removed over the years, 1,700 still remain in states across the U.S.

Despite removing the most monuments, Virginia and Texas are also among states with the most remaining.

• Virginia, 232 monuments remaining
• Texas, 202 monuments remaining
• Georgia, 198 monuments remaining
• South Carolina, 194 monuments remaining
• North Carolina, 160 monuments remaining
• Mississippi, 147 monuments remaining
• Alabama, 121 monuments remaining
• Tennessee, 98 monuments remaining
• Louisiana, 84 monuments remaining
• Florida, 62 monuments remaining

While the greatest concentration of symbols remains in former Confederate and border states, many exist in Northern states and states formed after the Civil War. California, New York, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Washington, Idaho and Montana all house a small number of monuments. After the recent removals, only 2 Washington monuments remaining, according to the study, meaning the number of confederate monuments has been cut in half.

Robert E. Lee, Jefferson Davis and Thomas Jonathan “Stonewall” Jackson are the top Confederates with statues, roads and schools named in their honor.

Nathan Bedford Forrest, the Confederate general who was the first Grand Wizard of the Ku Klux Klan, has the sixth highest number of monuments.

Many remaining monuments have been the targets of vandalism in recent weeks.

To protect monuments, President Donald Trump last month issued an executive order that instructed federal law enforcement authorities to prosecute people who damage federal monuments or statues.

The order also threatened to withhold funding from local governments that fail to protect their own statues from vandals.

See the full analysis at BeenVerified.com.