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| Paul Goodloe McIntire |
Like many of that era, McIntire actively worked to give away his fortune in good deeds, the most generous a grant of $200,000 that established the University of Virginia's business school. He also endowed Virginia's Chair for the Professor of Fine Arts ensuring, "the University will see its way clear to offer many lectures upon the subject of art and music, so that the people will appreciate more than ever before that the University belongs to them; and that it exists for them." The University of Virginia's Department of Art and Department of Music are named for him as a result.
He made many other donations. The McIntire Amphetheatre came from him. He helped build a part of the university's hospital. He donated money to the school to help in the study of psychiatry and of cancer. He helped build Charlotteville's public library. He gave the money for a concert series, donated rare books and art collections. In other words, from his Paul Goodloe McIntire's wiki, he sounds nothing like the man I imagined when I first heard about the statue controversy.
The idea of creating public space in city planning has been around forever but it really took off in the United States with the completion of New York's Central Park in 1873. Every city of note moved to copy something similar and McIntire decided to do something for Charlotteville once he retired. Ultimately he created five parks for the city - Lee, Jackson, Belmont, Washington, and McIntire.
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| Statue of Robert E. Lee in Charlotteville, Va |
I expected to see examples of Confederate jingoism when I looked into the building process of the Robert E Lee statue but could find little beyond technical details. I did find irony in the last line in the statue's nomination to the National Registered Landmarks when it was filed in 1997.
"Thus the Robert Edward Lee sculpture remains undisturbed in its original location. Sentiment in Charlottesville will undoubtedly keep it there, for the monument is a unique memorial to the eminent Confederate hero of all...."The trouble is with the last part of the application though I'm sure the author had no ill intent. She was trying to get a statue honored. There is no doubt Lee is larger than life. If you ask a hundred people to name the best Confederate general in the Civil War, ninety-nine of them will say Robert E Lee. He was brave, audacious, and cared for his men. He won most of his battles, the notable exception being Gettysburg, and in turn made each Union general that faced him look foolish in comparison.
Regarding slavery, Lee once made the statement to his wife that:
"In this enlightened age, there are few I believe, but what will acknowledge, that slavery as an institution, is a moral &; political evil in any Country."Lee was a man of dichotomies. Lee's father-in-law instructed his slaves to be freed upon his death but when Lee's wife received her inheritance, Robert held off because he knew family would lose the farm without the cheap labor. You see this happening to many families in the south of this time.
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| Thomas Jefferson |
Jefferson is also famous as the country's first Secretary of State and as an ambassador to France during the Revolutionary War. He founded the University of Virginia after he left office yet his most enduring legacy might be the words he penned in the Declaration of Independence and immortal phrase "all men are created equal". Yet even Jefferson didn't free his slaves until after his death. Many men of the time knew slavery was wrong yet they passed the problem to the next generation, unwilling or unable to face the financial burden of life without slavery.
Robert E. Lee too was a man of his times. In the same letter quoted above he said:
"The blacks are immeasurably better off here than in Africa, morally, socially &; physically. The painful discipline they are undergoing, is necessary for their instruction as a race, &; I hope will prepare &; lead them to better things. How long their subjugation may be necessary is known &; ordered by a wise Merciful Providence."Consider the fact that these words were written by a man who led other men in a Civil War to prolong the institution of slavery. It makes you wonder. How could a man who equate slavery as an evil actively work to prolong that evil? Put in the best light, Lee practiced self-deception to make himself feel better for doing something he knew was wrong. In the worst light, Lee was a sociopath concerning slavery, caring little for the suffering and working to see the bondage continue. I personally choose to believe the former as I think Lee was a complex yet caring man but I understand how others feel nothing but hatred for the man and his legacy.
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| Statue of Robert E. Lee at Gettysburg |
I rarely ever paused in my younger years to consider is how the offspring of slaves must feel when they see these statues. I'm sure I had an ancestor or two that was a slave because slavery was rampant in the ancient world. The difference is the public memory of that time has long since passed from consciousness. There is nothing about me that tells anyone that once upon a time, my ancestors were slaves of Romans or Greeks or Persians. That is not true of African-Americans. The history of America is literally written into their skin and the effects are still with us 150 years later. Poverty, poor education, drug use, violence, crime, prison, police brutality, housing. African-Americans struggle compared to whites in all these areas. Just like in Robert E Lee's time, we all are part to blame for this complex issue despite the fact the underlying problem originated long before any of us were ever born. It is hard to see a way out and while I hope it gets fixed in my lifetime, I'm not hopeful based on the rising hatred in our political discourse.
One thing we all can do is be a little more observant and that's leads back to the controversy of Lee's statue in Charlottesville. A simple start for dealing with Civil War statues could be this simple.
- Did the person live there?
- Did the person fight a battle there?
That's not to say there aren't places where statues of Lee make sense.
If you take Interstate 64 west from Charlottesville you eventually come to Lexington and the college where Lee lived in peaceful retirement after the war. That's a great spot for a statue which is why they already have a couple. There's also one of of him at the spot near Gettysburg (shown above) where he watched Pickett's men in their doomed charge.
The Civil War changed the way American's thought of their country, taking it from a collection of individual states into one single country. The Battle of Gettysburg and Lincoln's subsequent speech were the forges that helped move the country in a 'new birth of freedom' and everyone should visit the battlefield at least once in their lives. Standing next to the Lee Statue, you will feel a palpable sadness imagining lines of Confederates moving into a hopeless charge against a hill lined with Union troops. It is this spot that effectively ended the hopes of the Confederacy and with it, the institution of slavery.
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| 1st Flag of the Confederate States of America |
If we followed common sense rules, the country can make sure it is not ignoring its past while also moving forward to a better future. It would ensure the children of slaves are not surrounded by symbols of hatred but the country's history would be freely available for anyone that cares to visit battlefields or birthplaces.
I heard someone the other days say it best - taking down Confederate monuments is not erasing history. It is declaring that some parts of history belong in a museum, not on a pedestal. We shouldn't make this any harder than it needs to be. If every city in America did this we could move on to the next big thing because the other items on the list to end racism aren't nearly this easy.
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