PROTESTERS DRESSED in camouflage and gripping assault rifles gathered near a park in Charlottesville, Virginia, in August. They had assembled for a rally of white supremacists--people who believe the white race is superior to all others. According to their leaders, they were in Charlottesville to march against the city's plan to remove a statue of Confederate General Robert E. Lee. He led the armies of the South during the Civil War (1861-65), which pitted the North (called the Union) against the South (known as the Confederacy).
But the protesters weren't alone. A crowd of people who disagreed with them also arrived to demonstrate. The two sides soon clashed--first with angry chants, then with bottles, pepper spray, and fists. As the violence erupted, an alleged white supremacist plowed his car into the counter-protesters, killing one and injuring 19 others.
Despite the uproar, the city still plans to take down the Lee statue-- though opponents have filed a lawsuit to stop its removal. Charlottesville is hoping to follow the lead of several other cities, such as New Orleans, Louisiana, that recently took down Confederate monuments. This past spring, after years of lawsuits and protests, New Orleans removed four such statues, including one of Lee.
The disputes in Charlottesville and New Orleans are just two examples of how the fight over the legacy of the Civil War is still playing out more than 150 years later.
Clashing Views
To many people, Confederate symbols represent slavery--the main cause of the Civil War--and the oppression of blacks in the South for more than a century after that war.
"These statues are not just stone and metal," says New Orleans Mayor Mitch Landrieu. The monuments celebrate an overly simplified view of the Confederacy, he says, while "ignoring the death, ignoring the enslavement, ignoring the terror that it actually stood for."
Some people who oppose the removal of Confederate symbols, including the white supremacists who marched in Charlottesville, are members of hate groups that believe the white race should have power over all other races (see sidebar, p. 8). To them, the Confederacy represents a time when whites were firmly in control.
However, other people support keeping the monuments for different reasons. Pierre McGraw is a descendant of Confederate soldiers. He says the statues honor the bravery of Southerners who fought in the Civil War.
By taking the statues down, he says, "you're basically ripping out chapters of a history book."
President Donald Trump joined the debate after the events in Charlottesville, defending Civil War monuments as part of America's "history and culture." He also blamed "both sides"--white supremacists and the protesters who opposed them--for the violence. His remarks were widely condemned by both Democrats and Republicans.
North vs. South
In some ways, says Alvin Tillery, a professor of African-American studies at Northwestern University, the battle over Confederate symbols shows how the U.S. "never addressed the legacy of the Civil War or slavery." Even today, Americans have very different views of why the Civil War was fought.
When the war began, the Southern economy was mostly agricultural, relying on a few million slaves to harvest cotton. Most historians say the war started because of the South's desire to continue slavery.
However, not everyone agrees with that interpretation. Some say the South fought primarily for states' rights to decide their own affairs. After the North won the war, Southerners and groups commissioned monuments to help promote that view of the conflict.
Many of the memorials honor Confederate leaders and soldiers without any mention of slavery. For example, a Confederate monument recently removed in St. Louis, Missouri, read: "They battled to preserve the independence of the states."
Painful History
Honoring Confederate bravery wasn't the monuments' only purpose, says James Grossman of the American Historical Association. They also served to rally white Southerners who resented the gains that black Americans achieved after the war, such as the right to vote.
In the 1870s, Southern states began passing Jim Crow laws, which restricted the rights of blacks and segregated them from whites. Over the next few decades, hundreds of Confederate monuments were erected as violence against African-Americans escalated.
The building of Confederate statues surged again during the civil rights movement of the 1950s and '60s, Grossman says. Although blacks were making strides toward equality then, there was still resistance to change in the South.
Today, many African-Americans are pained by the monuments' presence. "I am offended every time I pass [the Lee statue]," Zyahna Bryant, an 11th-grader in Charlottesville, wrote to city officials. "I am reminded over and over again of the pain of my ancestors."
States Take Action
The movement to rid public property of Confederate symbols has been growing since June 2015, when 21-year-old Dylann Roof--a self-proclaimed racist who openly embraced the Confederate flag--murdered nine black churchgoers in Charleston, South Carolina.
Almost immediately, Confederate symbols came under fire. South Carolina and Alabama took down the Confederate flags on their capitol grounds. And public officials began to debate removing Civil War monuments in places such as Richmond, Virginia; St. Louis, Missouri; Austin, Texas; and Orlando, Florida.
At least 60 Confederate monuments in the U.S. have been taken down or renamed in the past two years, according to the Southern Poverty Law Center. Some of the statues are moved to museums.
Still, nearly 700 statues remain on display, most in the former Confederacy (see map, above). And many states have no plans to take down their monuments. Some have even passed laws banning the removal of any plaque, statue, or monument on public property that commemorates a historic military figure or event.
The "Whole Story"
In some places, groups are trying to reach a compromise. One approach has been to add more information to Confederate monuments, with background about the people depicted and their legacies.
For example, the University of Mississippi kept its controversial Confederate statue but added a plaque. It reads, in part: "Although the monument was created to honor the sacrifice of local Confederate soldiers, it must also remind us that the defeat of the Confederacy actually meant freedom for millions of people."
Putting the monuments in historical context rather than replacing them is called contextualization. Even this approach isn't without challenges. It took two years for University of Mississippi officials to agree on the plaque's wording. And small signs may not be enough to balance every statue, critics say.
Other cities have created new statues honoring African-Americans rather than eliminating Confederate ones. In Richmond, Virginia, a statue of black tennis star Arthur Ashe overlooks the city's famed Monument Avenue, along with Confederate generals Lee and Thomas "Stonewall" Jackson.
"I want Richmond to tell the whole story of its people," Mayor Levar Stoney recently told Time. "Not just a one-sided story."
CORE QUESTION why are Confederate symbols so controversial?
RELATED ARTICLE: What Are Hate Groups?
Hate groups promote racism and hatred toward members of different races, religions, and sexual orientations. More than 900 hate groups exist in the United States today, according to the Southern Poverty Law Center. They include the Ku Klux Klan--formed after the Civil War to terrorize newly freed slaves--and neo-Nazis, who advocate hatred of Jews, non-whites, and other minorities.
Why are these groups allowed to promote racist views? The answer lies in the Constitution--more specifically, in the First Amendment right to free speech. It protects all Americans' right to express themselves, even if most people find what they're saying offensive.
RELATED ARTICLE: Heritage or Hate?
Most of the Confederate monuments on public display in the U.S. are in the 11 states that were part of the Confederacy during the Civil War (see below). The rest are scattered across 20 other states.
NUMBER OF CONFEDERATE MONUMENTS *
76-100
51-75
26-50
0-25
* As of April 2016
SOURCE: Southern Poverty Law Center
Caption: Charlottesville, VA Aug. 12, 2017
Police in riot gear stand guard near the Robert E. Lee statue after a violent protest.
Caption: Durham, NC Aug. 14, 2017
Protesters sling a rope around the neck of a Confederate soldier statue and pull it down.
Caption: Baltimore, MD Aug. 16, 2017
Workers remove Lee and Thomas "Stonewall" Jackson statues overnight to avoid confrontation.
Caption: New Orleans, LA May 19, 2017
Despite having received death threats, workers remove the Lee statue.
Caption: The Ku Klux Klan rallies in July in Charlottesville.
LESSON PLAN National * pages 6-9
Featured Skill Close Reading
Monumental Battle
A push to remove Confederate monuments has sparked violence, protests, and heated debate.
LEXILE SCORE: 1200l
KEY STANDARDS
RH.6-8.1, RH.6-8.7, RH.6-8.9, RI.6-8.2, Rl.6-8.8, SL.6-8.1, WHST.6-8.1, WHST.6-8.7
CURRICULUM CONNECTIONS
* Incorporate this article into an analysis of the causes and effects of the Civil War.
* Include this article in a study of Reconstruction and the rise of Jim Crow laws.
* Use this article to discuss the role of the First Amendment
Before Reading
1 STUDENT ENGAGEMENT (10 MINUTES)
Ask students whether they're familiar with the recent events in Charlottesville, Virginia. Then have them consider the purpose of monuments. Encourage students to make connections to monuments they're familiar with.
Read & Analyze
2 INDEPENDENT READING (20 MINUTES)
Have students read the article on their own, writing down any comments or questions.
3 CLOSE-READING QUESTIONS (20 MINUTES)
Have students write their answers to each question, or use these prompts to guide a discussion.
* EXPLICIT INFORMATION: What was the stated purpose of the recent rally in Charlottesville, Virginia?
(The rally was held to protest the planned removal of a statue of Confederate General Robert E. Lee.)
* CENTRAL IDEAS: Summarize the main arguments for and against the removal of Confederate monuments.
(Answers will vary but may include: People who push for the removal of Confederate monuments argue that the statues are rooted in racism. These critics say the monuments stand, in part, for slavery. According to the article, many of the statues "served to rally white Southerners who resented the gains that black Americans achieved after the [Civil War], such as the right to vote." People who support leaving the monuments in place argue that the statues honor the brave men of the Confederacy who fought to defend states' rights. Many also say that removing the monuments is like trying to erase history.)
* MAKING INFERENCES, CITING TEXTUAL EVIDENCE: What do you think New Orleans Mayor Mitch Landrieu means when he says that "these statues are not just stone and metal"?
(Landrieu means that the statues are not harmless objects; many people can't view them without being reminded of slavery and the terror that African-Americans faced in the South before, during, and after the Civil War.)
* CAUSE AND EFFECT: According to the article, the current push to remove Confederate symbols has been growing since what event?
(the June 2015 murder of nine black churchgoers by Dylann Roof, a self-proclaimed racist who openly embraced the Confederate flag)
* MAKING INFERENCES: What role do states' rights play in the debate over Confederate monuments?
(Some people believe that the Civil War was fought primarily over the right of Southern states to decide their own affairs. The states' rights argument also comes into play with the removal of Confederate monuments, as some states have passed laws to stop that from happening.)
* VOCABULARY IN CONTEXT: What is contextualization as it relates to Confederate monuments?
(In the article, contextualization refers to putting Confederate monuments in historical context instead of removing or replacing them. The author describes it this way: "One approach has been to add more information to Confederate monuments, with background about the people depicted and their legacies.")
EVALUATE: What compromises have been reached regarding the removal of Confederate monuments? Discuss the potential for compromise as a long-term solution to the debate over Confederate monuments.
(Answers will vary but should include a discussion of the addition of statues honoring African-Americans, as in Richmond, Virginia, and the addition of contextualization in places such as the University of Mississippi.)
Extend & Assess
4 CLASS DEBATE
Explain to students that one side of the room represents "strongly agree" and the other side represents "strongly disagree." Students are to consider the room as a scale and move to the area of the room that best represents their opinion. Then make statements such as "The first amendment must protect all speech, even speech many people find offensive" or "All Confederate monuments should be taken down." For each statement, allow a few students to share their reasoning with the class.
5 ANALYZE THE FIRST AMENDMENT
Assign the skills sheet Close Reading: Hate Speech and the First Amendment (p. T-9), which includes an excerpt from the American Civil Liberties Union regarding protecting speech that many people find offensive. Have students discuss their answers in small groups.
6 ANALYZE A MONUMENT
Ask students to choose a monument from their community or identify a monument they found in their research. Instruct students to sketch the monument and label any of its symbols, important features, or words. Then have students write a response to the following questions: What is the purpose of the monument? Who or what does it represent? Is anyone's perspective missing? Ask students to add contextualization or a descriptor to better place the monument in historical context.
7 CONDUCT RESEARCH
Have students conduct further research to identify an important figure or battle of the Civil War. Then have them design a monument and write a statement for an accompanying plaque. Have students consider the point of view their monument represents, as well as anyone's perspective that may be left out.
DIFFERENTIATING
Lower Level Have students pause after reading each section of the article to turn and talk with a partner. Students should alternate in providing the summary, with their partners adding any missing details.
Higher Level Have students research a Supreme Court case regarding the First Amendment and identify the key arguments made for or against limitations on certain rights.
ADDITIONAL RESOURCES
Lower-Lexile Version
* Available online
Video
* Confederate Monument Protests
Skills Sheets
* Test Prep: Know the News--Monumental Battle (p. T-8)
* Close Reading: Hate Speech and the First Amendment (p. T-9)
* Quiz Wizard (p. T-15)
* Crossword (online)
* Identifying Text Features: Anatomy of a News Story (online)
* Integrating Visuals: Close Reading of Photos and Graphics (online)
Test Prep
Know the news: monumental battle
Read the article on pp. 6-9, then answer these questions.
1. Which is a central idea of the article?
(A) Many people disagree about the causes of the Civil War.
(B) The removal of Confederate statues has sparked heated debate and violence.
(C) New Orleans, Louisiana, recently removed Confederate monuments.
(D) Most Confederate monuments are in the South.
2. Which statement best supports that central idea?
(A) "But the protesters weren't alone."
(B) "The two sides soon clashed--first with angry chants, then with ... pepper spray and fists."
(C) "When the [Civil War] began, the Southern economy was mostly agricultural."
(D) "Groups are trying to reach a compromise."
3. What does oppression mean in this sentence? "To many people, Confederate symbols represent ... the oppression of blacks in the South."
(A) rights (C) persecution
(B) support (D) lives
4. What is the main purpose of the map on p. 9?
(A) to show where Confederate monuments are located
(B) to persuade Southern states to put up additional monuments
(C) to show that Confederate monuments are located in the North as well as the South
(D) to encourage the removal of all Civil War statues
5. What was the purpose of Jim Crow laws?
(A) to protect free speech
(B) to give African-Americans the right to vote
(C) to honor Confederate generals
(D) to restrict the rights of blacks
6. Which of these events happened first?
(A) A rally in Charlottesville, Virginia, turned violent.
(B) States began removing Confederate statues.
(C) Nine black churchgoers were murdered in Charleston, South Carolina.
(D) Monuments honoring Confederate leaders were put up following the Civil War.
7. Which of these is an example of contextualization?
(A) destroying a statue of a Confederate leader
(B) adding text to a statue of a Confederate leader that puts the Civil War and its legacy in context
(C) ordering that streets named for Confederate leaders be renamed
(D) all of the above
8. Which of these statements should be included in a summary of the article?
(A) Confederate monuments should be removed.
(B) The debate continues over how to resolve the controversy over Confederate monuments.
(C) Robert E. Lee was a Confederate general.
(D) The Southern economy relied heavily on slaves.
9. Which can you infer from the article?
(A) There are few Confederate monuments left.
(B) Most historians now agree that the Civil War had very little to do with slavery.
(C) Some states are resisting the push to get rid of Confederate monuments in public places.
(D) Everyone who wants to leave Confederate monuments in place is a white supremacist.
10. Which best supports your answer to question 9?
(A) "However, not everyone agrees with that interpretation [of the Civil War]."
(B) "One approach has been to add more information to Confederate monuments."
(C) "South Carolina and Alabama took down the Confederate flags on their capitol grounds."
(D) "Some [states] have even passed laws banning the removal of any plaque, statue, or monument on public property that commemorates a historic military figure or event."
TEACHER'S GUIDE
1. B
2. B
3. C
4. A
5. D
6. D
7. B
8. B
9. C
10. D
Close Reading
Hate Speech and the First Amendment
In "Monumental Battle" (pp. 6-9), you read about the recent violence in Charlottesville, Virginia, that began with a protest by white supremacists opposed to the planned removal of a Confederate monument. The First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution protects freedom of speech and the right to protest. Consider what you read in the article as well as the three excerpts below. Then summarize the arguments for and against placing limits on the First Amendment when it comes to language that many people find offensive.
The First Amendment
"Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances."
Supreme Court decision in Schenckx. United States, 1919
The Court ruled that freedom of speech could be restricted if the language represents a "clear and present danger," such as "falsely shouting fire in a theatre and causing a panic."
Statement by the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) on free speech
"The ACLU has often been at the center of controversy for defending the free speech rights of groups that spew hate, such as the Ku Klux Klan and the Nazis. But if only popular ideas were protected, we wouldn't need a First Amendment. History teaches that the first target of government repression is never the last. If we do not come to the defense of the free speech rights of the most unpopular among us, even if their views are [in opposition to] the very freedom the First Amendment stands for, then no one's liberty will be secure. In that sense, all First Amendment rights are 'indivisible.'"
Should there be limits on the First Amendment's right to free speech?
Putting It All Together Do you think there should be limits on the First Amendment when it comes to hate speech? Write a paragraph explaining your answer. Use evidence from the article and the excerpts above.
TEACHER'S GUIDE
Answers will vary but may include:
Yes: Hate speech can lead to violence, as it did in Charlottesville, Virginia. One of the U.S.'s founding principles is freedom of religion, as stated in the First Amendment, so groups should not be able to make statements against other religious groups.
No: The purpose of the First Amendment is to protect all speech. It should not be up to the government to decide what is hateful, which is why the protesters in Charlottesville were allowed to hold their rally in the first place. Placing limits on freedom of speech opens the door to abuses of those limits.
Please Note: Illustration(s) are not available due to copyright restrictions.