The General Assembly is about to remove a prominent symbol of its segregationist past from Capitol Square.
Harry Byrd was first elected to the Virginia state Senate in 1915, representing a district that included his hometown of Winchester. He went on to become governor and U.S. Senator and ultimately lead a political machine that shut down public schools rather than integrate them. That's why lawmakers want to remove a statute honoring him from Capitol Square.
These days Byrd’s home in Winchester is represented by Republican Senator Jill Vogel.
"He was a man of a certain time and a certain era, and so I would just ask that the members of this body to look at the whole man and consider that we are each a sum of all our parts," Vogel said.
Vogel was one of three votes against removing the statue, all Republicans. Senator Jennifer McClellan is a Democrat from Richmond who voted with the majority to remove it.
"We are still dealing with the aftermath of that with inequity in our schools, inequity in our neighborhoods, inequity in every system we have in Virginia," McClellan said. "And because we don't talk about it, we're still trying to figure out how to grapple with it."
The statue of Harry Byrd is a relative newcomer to Capitol Square. It was installed in 1976. It'll be taken down and put in storage this summer.
This report, provided by Virginia Public Radio, was made possible with support from the Virginia Education Association.
