On a warm fall afternoon, a group of supporters gathered around Andrea Douglas – head of the African American Heritage Center. The city of Charlottesville had given the Lee statue to that organization in December of 2021, and after a couple of unsuccessful legal challenges to the donation, Douglas said the center had now taken action.
“I’m proud to announce today that we have fulfilled our promise to the city and to our supporters to melt Charlottesville’s statue of Robert E. Lee," she told the cheering crowd.
She wouldn’t say when or where the statue was turned into heavy bronze ingots, but Douglas bore witness to its destruction along with a a few dozen supporters who sat in lawn chairs, sipping champagne or bourbon from paper cups. That’s according to the Washington Post was also invited to witness history somewhere in the South – shooting video and explaining that many foundries had refused the job.
This one, the Post said, was owned by a Black man who considered the job an honor.
Now, Douglas says, the center will begin the search for an artist to create a replacement using the original material. Based on a survey of more than 400 people, she offered this guidance.
“We have heard from the public things like, ‘We’d like it to be interactive. We’d like it to be a place where children can interact with the object. That it really must represent people coming together.”
Based on what other public memorial art costs, Douglas said her group would attempt to raise $4 million for the project.
