The True Story Behind Charlottesville’s Lee Statue
Debunking the Myths
Debunking the Myths
A great piece from the the “Jefferson Davis” X account. - DD
In the wake of the 2017 Unite the Right rally in Charlottesville, Virginia, activists and some “historians” propagated a series of claims about the city’s Robert E. Lee statue, framing it as a symbol of white supremacy, Jim Crow, and racial intimidation. These narratives often distorted historical facts, ignoring the context of its erection in 1924 and cherry-picking evidence to fit a modern agenda. Drawing on primary sources, dedication speeches, and contemporary records, it is easy to refute key falsehoods: that the statue was solely about Confederate glorification and racial oppression; that its donor was fixated on the so-called “Lost Cause;” that the artist was a Southern partisan; that the monument represented division rather than reunion; that Robert E. Lee opposed all Confederate monuments; and that it was erected at the peak of lynchings to terrorize Black communities.
The Donor: A Philanthropist Honoring Exploration and Unity, Not Just the Confederacy
One common narrative portrays the statue’s donor, Paul Goodloe McIntire, as a Confederate nostalgist intent on perpetuating white supremacy through public art. In reality, McIntire was a Charlottesville native and successful financier who funded a broad array of civic improvements, including parks, libraries, and statues commemorating American history beyond the Civil War. McIntire commissioned four major sculptures in Charlottesville between 1919 and 1924 as part of the City Beautiful movement, which emphasized aesthetic and communal enhancements in urban spaces. Among these was the Robert E. Lee statue, but he also donated monuments to Stonewall Jackson, George Rogers Clark, and, notably…