FRANKFORT – The Historic Properties Advisory Commission is now accepting public comments concerning the location of the Jefferson Davis statue.
In the wake of the June 17 shooting that left nine people dead at the Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church in Charleston, S.C., Kentucky law makers have proposed moving the likeness of the Confederate president from its current home in the Capitol Rotunda to a museum. Politicians on both sides of the aisle have supported the measure, including U.S. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, Kentucky Attorney General and Democratic gubernatorial candidate Jack Conway, Kentucky Speaker of the House Greg Stumbo, and Republican gubernatorial candidate Matt Bevin.
Conway was quoted by the Louisville Courier-Journal as saying, “I believe that the Jefferson Davis statue belongs in a museum, where history is taught, rather than in the State Capitol, where laws are made, where rights are upheld, and where we strive for equal justice under the law.”
Lifelong Kentuckian Berry Craig echoes Conway’s concerns. Craig, author and professor emeritus of history at West Kentucky Community and Technical College in Paducah, said, “The statue of Jefferson Davis in the Capitol has always struck me as ironic because during the Civil War, Govs. James F. Robinson and Thomas E. Bramlette and the overwhelming majority of Kentucky’s legislators considered the Confederate president an arch traitor.”
Many local residents, however, disagree with the relocation. Ruth Brown, of Gilbertsville, sees the statue as an important part of history and believes it should be left as is. “I personally feel that moving the statue is pointless,” she said. “Would being in a museum make any difference? The people who oppose the statue don’t want it to exist.”
Brown believes the statue is an important symbol of a nation divided, not a condonation of slavery. “Having a reminder of something bad that happened is sometimes a good thing,” she said. “It reminds us to never let it happen again.”
Kentucky Revised Statute 11.027 gives the Historic Properties Advisory Commission final say over the statues housed in the Capitol. The agency is taking public comments on its website until July 29. Click here to submit a comment. The panel is scheduled to meet on Aug. 5.
The 15-foot marble statue was funded mostly with private donations; however, the 1934 state legislature appropriated $5,000 for the statue’s construction. The artwork, by sculptor Frederick Cleveland Hibbard, was unveiled in December 1936.
If the advisory panel chooses to remove the statue, it may or may not recommend a replacement. State law limits statues in the Capitol to people who have been deceased for at least 40 years.