Groups and individuals in the Oxford-University community are speaking out about the newest language that will be posted on the Confederate memorial at the Circle.
Several groups who provided input after the initial plaque language was released in March believe the new plaque is a sign of progress.
Buka Okoye, president of the UM chapter of the NAACP, said he supported the removal of the memorial initially, but thinks the University has done better by students to update the language.
“This is a step in the right direction,” Okoye said.
The new plaque language mentions the Lost Cause ideology in addition to citing the loss of the Civil War to Confederates meant freedom to millions of slaves across the nation.
“That’s what I wanted to see, the truth coming out,” Okoye said.
As a result of the many groups criticizing the original plaque, a more comprehensive search was made for the updated language. The UM history faculty, after releasing a statement with their own proposed language, composed a comprehensive report on the Confederate memorial and presented it the original Chancellor’s Advisory Committee on History and Context.
Assistant Professor of History Anne Twitty worked with fellow history faculty John Neff and Jarod Roll as well as Darren Grem, assistant professor of history, and graduate student of history Jillian McClure to develop the report.
“Members of the history faculty were delighted to have a chance to use our expertise to provide recommendations to the current contextualization committee and the Chancellor about how to revise the plaque,” Twitty said. “We appreciated the opportunity to meet with them both, host two forums to ensure broader community input and present a detailed report based on our deep historical knowledge of not only the Civil War and Reconstruction, but the Jim Crow era as well as the Civil Rights Movement.”
Since the revised plaque has been released, Twitty said she would have liked the plaque to mention how black people were disfranchised across the South, but the new plaque language represents a meaningful improvement.
“We feel gratified to have been given the opportunity to ensure that the plaque will contain a far more accurate and honest account of the monument’s origins and meaning,” Twitty said.
Okoye said he thinks many will still reject the current language because of the “politically correct” nature or because it rejects what a lot of people have regarded as truth.
Mark Stone, who was initially against contextualizing the statue, said he approves of the new language.
“I think it reflects what the monument is about and that is paying respect to those who fought and those who died fighting,” Stone said. “No soldier likes war, but those who who serve need something for the people living after they have died to remember them by.”
Both Twitty and Okoye said that taking down the first draft and gathering more input from campus was the right decision for the University to make.
Stone said as a veteran, the monument remains a vital part to paying respect to American veterans as well as American history.
“No soldier likes to be forgotten after they have given their life or saw others who serve give theirs,” Stone said. “I hope the monument stays here so others after me will remember all that went on in the Civil War, and the good things that came out of it after the war was over.”
