Racist Monument Tracker
Keep a close eye on the removal of monuments to racists, colonizers, and Confederates
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As the United States reckons with its history of racism, people across the country are calling for the removal of monuments that memorialize the historical figures who helped create or maintain systems of racial oppression. Some state governments have begun removing these monuments, like in Dallas, Raleigh, and Richmond. But many people are taking matters into their own hands and bringing down these stone celebrations themselves.
The people who want the monuments taken down understand that symbols matter. Some of these statues — like those dedicated to the Confederacy — were quite literally created to reinforce white dominance over the lives of non-white people.
“In the beginning years of the Reconstruction era, statues were meant to intimidate a burgeoning free Black class and Black middle class,” explains art curator Chaédria LaBouvier, the first Black woman to curate a solo exhibition at the Guggenheim Museum in New York City. “You see these statues rise right alongside the creation of the KKK. They go hand and hand.”
It’s important to understand why and when these statues were built. It is also important to understand why and when these monuments come down. As the stones fall, are defaced, or are officially relocated, we’ll track where they went (and when they went there) on our Racist Monument Tracker. The information contained therein is a combination of data supplied by the SPLC’s Confederate symbols list and old-fashioned news research, augmented by state and city government documentation.
