Engraved in stone, the Confederate Memorial stands as a testament to a complicated past. The monument’s carving features Jefferson Davis, Robert E. Lee, and Stonewall Jackson. These Confederate figures loom large on horseback.
The Stone Mountain Memorial carving stretches 200 feet across. It dominates the north face of a 1700-foot-high quartz and granite dome. But how did this colossal monument come to be? Its story twists and turns over more than 50 years.
The idea for a Confederate memorial on Stone Mountain started in the 1910s. But the monument wasn’t finished until 1972. The monument’s history reflects changing attitudes about the Civil War. It also reflects race relations in the United States.
Sheffield Hale the Atlanta History Centre’s boss says Confederate monuments aimed to show who was in charge. These monuments propped up the Jim Crow segregation. They stood as public symbols of white supremacy. The Ku Klux Klan was reborn on Stone Mountain in 1915. This further intertwined the monument with white supremacy. Talk even arose of including Klansmen in the carving.
Gutzon Borglum was the original sculptor. He left after disputes linked to the Klan’s leadership. Borglum’s initial work was blasted off the mountain. He later sculpted Mount Rushmore.
The project stalled during the Depression. It was revived in the 1950s. This revival wasn’t about the Civil War’s end. It was a response to Brown v Board of Education. This Supreme Court decision declared segregated schools unconstitutional. Marvin Griffin ran for Georgia governor. He promised to uphold segregation and finish the memorial.
Elected governor Griffin bought the mountain for the state. He called it a rallying point to preserve ideals. These were ideals that forefathers fought for. Work resumed in 1964. This was just after the Civil Rights Act was signed. The Confederate Memorial wasn’t completed until 1972.
The film “Monument” includes a defense of the sculpture by Donna Barron. She is the daughter of the chief carver. She wants people to value the carving. She also wants them to value her dad’s life.
Genesis Reddicks is an activist in Georgia. She observes commemorating roots is good. But not if they are linked to neighbors’ trauma. The Confederate Memorial looms over trails used by all Georgians. It stands near Atlanta a center of Black history.
Some propose removing the monument. Stacey Abrams once advocated for its removal. Others suggest vegetation should cover it. Brian Kemp vowed to protect the carving. State law prohibits its alteration.
Brent Leggs is a preservationist. He says we shouldn’t erase history. But we don’t have to revere it. The Atlanta History Center aims to start a debate. The past can be a compass not a battleground.