Statues of Gen. Thomas J. “Stonewall Jackson,” Gov. William "Extra Billy" Smith and physician Hunter Holmes McGuire were removed six years after civil rights demonstrators in Richmond took down an iconic statue of Jefferson Davis.
A group of students in Virginia successfully sued their school board after it REINSTATED the names of Confederate generals at two local schools. Yes, reinstated—after voting four years earlier to remove the names. Jacob Soboroff spoke with AD Carter, one of the student plaintiffs, who says: "If you’re not going to take a step towards justice when you see an injustice, you can’t expect anyone else to."
Statues honoring Confederate Generals Thomas J. “Stonewall” Jackson and Gov. William “Extra Billy” Smith, as well as Confederate Dr. Hunter Holmes McGuire are no longer on display.
The state law specifically removes the Virginia Division of the United Daughters of the Confederacy and the Confederate Memorial Literary Society from the list of exemptions to state property taxes, along with other similar groups.
The new law signed by Gov. Abigail Spanberger is the culmination of a long, Democrat-led push to distance Virginia from its Confederate past.