Introduction
Monuments honoring historic figures are being removed by local officials or have been toppled or defaced by protesters across the nation this year. Many honored Confederate generals and officials, but monuments to Christopher Columbus, Spanish missionaries and Presidents George Washington and Thomas Jefferson, who both held slaves, also have come under attack. The call to remove Confederate monuments and symbols from public spaces is not new, but it reached a new level of intensity this summer as part of a mass protest movement demanding racial justice and an end to police brutality toward minorities. Opponents of the monuments say they honor men whose actions violated fundamental American beliefs in equality and justice. Confederate statues are especially offensive, opponents say, because they exalt traitors who rebelled against the U.S. government to defend slavery and were erected in the South as expressions of white supremacy during the Jim Crow era of segregation. The statues' defenders say they memorialize personal courage or leadership and removing them is an attempt to erase history.
Protesters try to topple a statue of President Andrew Jackson on June 22 in Lafayette Square across from the White House. Jackson's policies and actions forced many Native Americans off their lands. While some local officials have removed monuments honoring controversial historic figures, protesters have defaced and pulled down others and called for the removal of many more. (Getty Images/Drew Angerer)
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