# Civil rights pioneer's statue goes up in U.S. Capitol as Virginia representative, replacing General Lee **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [December 17, 2025, 6:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/civil-rights-pioneers-statue-goes-up-in-u-s-capitol-as-virginia-representative-replacing-general-lee/1025779 "2025-12-17T06:09:54Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![ekedolphin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ekedolphin/32/10003_2.png) [@ekedolphin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ekedolphin)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2025, 6:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/civil-rights-pioneers-statue-goes-up-in-u-s-capitol-as-virginia-representative-replacing-general-lee/1025779/1 "2025-12-17T06:09:54Z")
Every state gets two bronze statues in the US Capitol recognizing important figures from its past. For awhile, Virginia’s representation was George Washington and Robert E. Lee. Lee’s statue was removed in 2020 at the request of Democratic Virginia Governor Ralph Northam, in the wake of the George Floyd protests that brought down more than 100 Confederate monuments. The other day, Virginia’s new statue went up in the US Capitol, and I think you’ll agree with me, it was worth the wait. [https://www.npr.org/2025/12/16/nx-s1-5645727/barbara-rose-johns-capitol-statue](https://www.npr.org/2025/12/16/nx-s1-5645727/barbara-rose-johns-capitol-statue) It’s a statue of Barbara Rose Johns, a Black woman who was 16 years old when she led a full-student-body walkout of her school in 1951 to try and force them to desegregate. The conditions in that school were literally inhumane. Her case became one of the cases that was reviewed as part of the Supreme Court’s _Brown v. Board of Education_ case, which brought down “separate but equal”. I’m very proud of Virginia today. ---
**Author:** ![Der\_Trihs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/der_trihs/32/233_2.png) [@Der\_Trihs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Der_Trihs)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2025, 6:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/civil-rights-pioneers-statue-goes-up-in-u-s-capitol-as-virginia-representative-replacing-general-lee/1025779/2 "2025-12-17T06:20:20Z")
Good for them. ---
**Author:** ![EinsteinsHund](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/einsteinshund/32/8400_2.png) [@EinsteinsHund](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EinsteinsHund)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2025, 3:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/civil-rights-pioneers-statue-goes-up-in-u-s-capitol-as-virginia-representative-replacing-general-lee/1025779/3 "2025-12-17T15:41:51Z")
I’m surprised something worthy like this can still happen in the current political climate in the USA. But it’s good to hear. ---
**Author:** ![bobot](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bobot/32/21622_2.png) [@bobot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bobot)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2025, 3:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/civil-rights-pioneers-statue-goes-up-in-u-s-capitol-as-virginia-representative-replacing-general-lee/1025779/4 "2025-12-17T15:55:12Z")
Agreed. That states have the authority to decide who is represented seems quaint and traditional in the current selfish, venomous climate of “leadership”. Way to go, Virginia! ---
**Author:** ![Si\_Amigo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/si_amigo/32/2877_2.png) [@Si\_Amigo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Si_Amigo)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2025, 4:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/civil-rights-pioneers-statue-goes-up-in-u-s-capitol-as-virginia-representative-replacing-general-lee/1025779/5 "2025-12-17T16:51:45Z")
How the hell did Lee ever get chosen over Thomas Jefferson in the first place? Not that I mind Barbara being recognized, but how did a rebel leader ever get a statue in Capitol? Don’t bother responding, it’s a rhetorical question. ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2025, 8:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/civil-rights-pioneers-statue-goes-up-in-u-s-capitol-as-virginia-representative-replacing-general-lee/1025779/6 "2025-12-17T20:43:44Z")
> [@Si\_Amigo](#): > > How the hell did Lee ever get chosen over Thomas Jefferson in the first place? Not that I mind Barbara being recognized, but how did a rebel leader ever get a statue in Capitol? Or any of several famous Lee’s other than the traitor- “Light-Horse Harry” Lee III, Richard Henry Lee, or Francis Lee (who signed the declaration). ---
**Author:** ![Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba9def/32.png) [@Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Just_Asking_Questions)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2025, 9:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/civil-rights-pioneers-statue-goes-up-in-u-s-capitol-as-virginia-representative-replacing-general-lee/1025779/7 "2025-12-17T21:10:12Z")
Or Henry Lee Lucas, supposed murderer of over 600, who, I was surprised to find, is also from Virginia. ---
**Author:** ![Wendell\_Wagner](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/8491ac/32.png) [@Wendell\_Wagner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wendell_Wagner)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2025, 9:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/civil-rights-pioneers-statue-goes-up-in-u-s-capitol-as-virginia-representative-replacing-general-lee/1025779/8 "2025-12-17T21:21:18Z")
> [@Si\_Amigo](#): > > how did a rebel leader ever get a statue in Capitol Between 1890 and 1930, many of the southern U.S. states deliberately put up statues in public places in those states (and in the Capital building in Washington, D.C.) in order to annoy Black people in those states. It was White people (who were in the majority there) voting to make the Black people there feel bad. The Whites were saying in effect, “We don’t care that we lost the Civil War. We don’t care that slavery is now illegal. We’re going to say without quite saying it that we think you’re still inferior.” ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2025, 9:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/civil-rights-pioneers-statue-goes-up-in-u-s-capitol-as-virginia-representative-replacing-general-lee/1025779/9 "2025-12-17T21:34:06Z")
> [@Wendell\_Wagner](#): > > We’re going to say without quite saying it that we think you’re still inferior.” Or, in many cases, with quite saying it.