Despite the trauma they inflict on Black and Brown communities, several Southern states continue to observe “Confederate Memorial Day” in April that glorifies and whitewashes the shameful legacy of the Confederacy. The true legacy of the Confederacy, which is often minimized or erased completely by these celebrations, was to preserve the institution of slavery and promote white supremacy.
Strong progress toward removing Confederate iconography from the American landscape — a critical part of telling the hard history of slavery and racism in this country — has been made, yet Southern states continue to block the removal of Confederate symbols.
Currently, seven states (Alabama, Arkansas, Georgia, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina and Tennessee) have enacted preservation laws to block the removal of Confederate memorials. This legislation is designed to deny the will of communities who do not want symbols that glorify white supremacy littering their public spaces by forcing the symbols to remain in place.
These regressive preservation laws were enacted between 2000 and 2021 — more than 135 years after the Civil War was lost — to keep false heroes on a pedestal. But Americans recognize these symbols represent hate instead of heritage and do not tell our entire, shared history.
The SPLC has tracked public symbols of the Confederacy across the United States through our Whose Heritage? research project since 2015. New data shows that 48 Confederate symbols were removed, renamed or relocated from public spaces last year.
- 16 of those symbols were Confederate monuments. Comparatively, 17 Confederate statues were removed in 2021.
- For the third straight year, Virginia leads the nation by removing 13 Confederate symbols from public spaces. Louisiana and North Carolina tied at seven for second place, and New York and Texas tied at five for third place.
- Out of the more than 2,600 Confederate symbols that are still publicly present across the U.S., 47 symbols are still pending removal in 11 states: Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, North Carolina, New York, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, and Virginia, as well as Puerto Rico.
- Ten of the 47 symbols pending removal are schools that are expected to be renamed in Alabama (1), Georgia (1), South Carolina (4) and Virginia (4).
- A total of 482 Confederate symbols have been removed, renamed, or relocated from public spaces following the Charleston massacre on June 17, 2015.
These are just a few examples of the extraordinary work being done by communities across the South and beyond, rejecting revisionist history and removing Confederate memorials in all their inhumane forms.
Last year, a federal Naming Commission identified more than 800 items honoring the Confederacy on military property. The fact that they are located in 20 states and Washington, D.C., as well as Germany and Japan, reveal just how deeply rooted white supremacy culture has been within military ranks. As the military works to remove all Confederate iconography by the Naming Commission’s January 2024 deadline, the SPLC will continue to support and encourage local activists who are challenging this age-old propaganda campaign.