RICHMOND (WINA) – Richmond’s Monument Avenue Commission has recommended signage and exhibits of historical context around the avenue’s famed Confederate monuments… then removal of the Jefferson Davis monument “pending litigation or changes in state law”. An executive summary states,  “Over the course of ten months, public input was received in in a variety of formats… and it became abundantly clear the majority of the public acknowledges that Monument Avenue cannot and should not remain exactly as it is”.

In a 115-pages report posted on the Monument Avenue Commission website, the actual recommendations are on two pages. The recommendations include:

* add prominent signage at the public right-of-ways adjacent to the Matthew F. Maury, Thomas J. “Stonewall” Jackson, Jefferson Davis, and J.E.B. Stuart monuments that reflect the historic, biographical, artistic, and changing meaning over time for each

* given the Robert E. Lee Monument is owned by the Commonwealth of Virginia, similar permanent signage can be placed in the city’s right-of-way or sidewalks bordering it

* work with the museum community to create a permanent exhibit that takes a far deeper dive into the history of the monuments and people depicted

* work with Richmond Regional Tourism and the Department of Economic Development/Office of Tourism to create a new video for the city’s website that can also be run in hotel rooms

* produce a mobile app with the information found on the new signage

* create new contemporary works that bring new and expanded meaning to Monument Avenue by immediately engaging in artists locally and internationally

* commission a monument that commemorates the resilience of the formerly enslaved.. and taking the concept further by creating a work dedicated to soldiers of the United States Colored Troops

* partner with Initiatives of Change to submit the next phased proposal to the Kellogg Foundation’s Truth, Racial Healing, and Transformation (TRHT) program

* the commission strongly recommends the city take a proactive and holistic approach to Richmond’s monuments and statuary in order to rectify the historical silences in the city’s landscape

* pending litigation or changes in state law — which the city may choose to initiate or support — remove the Jefferson Davis Monument. Of all the statues, this is one of the most unabashedly Lost Cause in its design and sentiment. Davis was not from Richmond or Virginia. The statue of Davis was created by Edward Virginius Valentine at his studio on Clay Street which is part of the Valentine Museum. The Vindicatrix statue which sits at the very top can be relocated to a cemetary — perhaps with Davis’s grave at Hollywood Cemetary. The plaques adorning the columns may be held in storage or returned to the United Daughters of the Confederacy which is the organization that raised funds to construct the piece The remaining pedestals and mounts could be repurposed for a new monument or artistic work

Richmond City Council will have to approve any recommendations.

Click here to read the full report.