# Did the North not create their own statues? **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [August 26, 2020, 1:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-the-north-not-create-their-own-statues/919066 "2020-08-26T13:36:39Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2020, 5:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-the-north-not-create-their-own-statues/919066/21 "2020-08-26T17:20:54Z")
There are many famous Lee’s including two from the 2nd Continental Congress, and another hero of the revolutionary war. So a “Lee” all by itself isnt necessarily to honor Robert E. Richard Henry Lee Francis Lightfoot Lee Light-Horse Harry Lee ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2020, 5:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-the-north-not-create-their-own-statues/919066/22 "2020-08-26T17:25:50Z")
That reminds me of how King County, Washington, where Seattle is located, decided in recent years to [change its namesake](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/King_County,_Washington#Namesake) from a nineteenth century slaveowner to Martin Luther King, Jr. ---
**Author:** ![Jackmannii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jackmannii/32/311_2.png) [@Jackmannii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jackmannii)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2020, 5:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-the-north-not-create-their-own-statues/919066/23 "2020-08-26T17:41:52Z")
> [@Si\_Amigo](#): > > From what I have seen in many Ohio towns is either a statue of a local civil war hero, like Generals Custer or Grant or a general statue of a union soldier holding a rifle with a bayonet. Either in the center of town somewhere or in a cemetery in the veterans area. There’s a statue of William Sherman in Lancaster, Ohio, which figures because he was born and grew up there. You can visit the Sherman family house in Lancaster which dates to 1811. William Sherman’s brother John became a U.S. senator and a force behind the Sherman Antitrust Act. Confederate monuments went up in relatively small and steady numbers after the war until the early 20th century, when the number spiked at around the same time Jim Crow laws were going into effect. > **[The history of Confederate monuments in America](https://www.13newsnow.com/article/news/history/the-history-of-confederate-monuments-in-america/291-75e9aa26-f14b-46c4-8e5f-913cf5f00b76)** > > You have a right to decide what the monuments represent, but here are the facts. ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2020, 8:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-the-north-not-create-their-own-statues/919066/24 "2020-08-26T20:39:27Z")
> [@DrDeth](#): > > There are many famous Lee’s including two from the 2nd Continental Congress, Silly aside: And one from a [fried chicken stand](https://www.leesfamousrecipe.com/) that’s far less controversial. ---
**Author:** ![k9bfriender](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/k9bfriender/32/3283_2.png) [@k9bfriender](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/k9bfriender)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2020, 8:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-the-north-not-create-their-own-statues/919066/25 "2020-08-26T20:41:21Z")
A fifty foot statue of Sherman in each and every town and city in the south would have made a good point. ---
**Author:** ![Monty](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/monty/32/47_2.png) [@Monty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Monty)\ **Post date:** [August 27, 2020, 1:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-the-north-not-create-their-own-statues/919066/26 "2020-08-27T01:06:25Z")
Yep, that would fire up the locals. ---
**Author:** ![Babale](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/babale/32/15666_2.png) [@Babale](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Babale)\ **Post date:** [August 27, 2020, 1:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-the-north-not-create-their-own-statues/919066/27 "2020-08-27T01:15:33Z")
They seem to have convinced themselves of their own oppression even without such a blatant symbol. ---
**Author:** ![Gyrate](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gyrate/32/3588_2.png) [@Gyrate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gyrate)\ **Post date:** [August 27, 2020, 8:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-the-north-not-create-their-own-statues/919066/28 "2020-08-27T08:28:30Z")
> [@Monty](#): > > Yep, that would fire up the locals. What are they going to do - pull them down and “erase history”? ---
**Author:** ![MandaJo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ac91a4/32.png) [@MandaJo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MandaJo)\ **Post date:** [August 27, 2020, 11:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-the-north-not-create-their-own-statues/919066/29 "2020-08-27T11:20:55Z")
It’s probably apocryphal, but there is a story that goes around about an attempt to rename a Lee school after Bruce Lee. Which would be awesome. ---
**Author:** ![RitterSport](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rittersport/32/6326_2.png) [@RitterSport](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RitterSport)\ **Post date:** [August 27, 2020, 11:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-the-north-not-create-their-own-statues/919066/30 "2020-08-27T11:27:55Z")
Apparently, Bruce Lee came up pretty frequently as a replacement for Traitor White Supremacist Lee when the casual polls are done: > **[Could Bruce Lee High School actually become a thing?](https://www.scmp.com/sport/martial-arts/mixed-martial-arts/article/3016239/bruce-lee-greatest-lee-all-thats-according)** > > Jokey poll comes as schools avoiding association with racist general Robert E. Lee name themselves after other Lees to save on rebranding costs. ---
**Author:** ![Gyrate](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gyrate/32/3588_2.png) [@Gyrate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gyrate)\ **Post date:** [August 27, 2020, 12:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-the-north-not-create-their-own-statues/919066/31 "2020-08-27T12:29:19Z")
Jackson, MS should probably rename itself after a different Jackson while we’re at it (IIRC it’s named for Andrew, not Stonewall). I nominate Mahalia. Or possibly Reggie. ---
**Author:** ![k9bfriender](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/k9bfriender/32/3283_2.png) [@k9bfriender](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/k9bfriender)\ **Post date:** [August 27, 2020, 12:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-the-north-not-create-their-own-statues/919066/32 "2020-08-27T12:52:54Z")
We’re just honoring our great generals. I’m not saying that we should have put a diorama of Atlanta burning to the ground along with every statue. No, we just have one that we put in Gettysburg. Seriously, though, if they were to object to such a thing based on it being a symbol of oppression, then they would have no leg to stand on when others objected to statues of confederate traitors being symbols of oppression. ---
**Author:** ![SingleMalt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/singlemalt/32/3961_2.png) [@SingleMalt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SingleMalt)\ **Post date:** [August 27, 2020, 1:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-the-north-not-create-their-own-statues/919066/33 "2020-08-27T13:35:27Z")
Michael. ---
**Author:** ![Gyrate](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gyrate/32/3588_2.png) [@Gyrate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gyrate)\ **Post date:** [August 27, 2020, 1:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-the-north-not-create-their-own-statues/919066/34 "2020-08-27T13:41:41Z")
No. Just…no. ---
**Author:** ![Slow\_Moving\_Vehicle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slow_moving_vehicle/32/291_2.png) [@Slow\_Moving\_Vehicle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Slow_Moving_Vehicle)\ **Post date:** [August 27, 2020, 1:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-the-north-not-create-their-own-statues/919066/35 "2020-08-27T13:50:38Z")
> [@Babale](#): > > > [@Gyrate](#): > > > > We could rectify this. Perhaps a large statue of Sherman in central Atlanta? > > That’s a fantastic idea, though I would go with civil rights icons instead of union soldiers. Replace every Confederate statue with a civil rights statue. We finally got around to putting a statue of Martin Luther King Jr. on the grounds of the Georgia State Capitol. Not enough, but it’s a start. I’d really really like to see a Freedom Bell atop Stone Mountain, as a monument to Dr. King. > [@urbanredneck2](#): > > It could also be, just my opinion, that the guy who could carve a mountain, Borglund, after he finished Stone Mountain, got busy carving Mt. Rushmore. He was also asked to do the Crazy Horse monument but he died about that time. Bit of a hijack, but Gutzon Borglund didn’t carve Stone Mountain. He was hired to do so, and created models, [but he clashed with the money people over finances and personality conflicts, and was fired in 1925.](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stone_Mountain#Confederate_Memorial) In a fit of pique, he destroyed his models, and the partial head of Lee that he carved was blasted off the mountain. The current carving is the work of two sculptors, Walker Hancock and Roy Faulkner, who finished the carving in 1974. It’s worth noting that the final impetus for completing the carving was _Brown v. Board of Education._ ---
**Author:** ![Babale](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/babale/32/15666_2.png) [@Babale](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Babale)\ **Post date:** [August 27, 2020, 1:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-the-north-not-create-their-own-statues/919066/36 "2020-08-27T13:53:46Z")
I’m not agreeing with them; I think the “Lost Cause”/“War of Northern Aggression” narrative is a disgusting lie, with strong overtones of the same sort of “we are the best, therefore if we lost it is because THEY stabbed us in the back” mentality that brought Hitler to power in interwar Germany. And yeah, statues of Union generals as part of a much more comprehensive (and far longer) Reconstruction period would have done wonders for bringing the South up to the same level of modernity that the rest of the country has achieved. And yes, of course whinjng about statues of General Sherman while praising statues of ANY Confederate traitor is ridiculously hypocritical. I’m just saying, that’s never stopped anyone before. ---
**Author:** ![Slow\_Moving\_Vehicle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slow_moving_vehicle/32/291_2.png) [@Slow\_Moving\_Vehicle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Slow_Moving_Vehicle)\ **Post date:** [August 27, 2020, 2:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-the-north-not-create-their-own-statues/919066/37 "2020-08-27T14:52:27Z")
“I want to say to Gen. Sherman, who is considered an able man in our parts, though some people think he is a kind of careless man about fire, that from the ashes he left us in 1864 we have raised a brave and beautiful city.” - Henry Grady, editor of the _Atlanta Constitution_, 1886. I’ve lived in Atlanta all of my adult life, and have never heard anyone whining about Sherman. Or talking about Sherman, for that matter. Most residents, I suspect, would react to a statue of him with a resounding “Meh”. Not saying we don’t have plenty of racists in Georgia; just that they don’t need to reach back to the Civil War to justify or memorialize their bigotry. Erecting a statue of Malcolm X or Jesse Jackson would piss them off a lot more than raising one of W.T. Sherman. ---
**Author:** ![Monty](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/monty/32/47_2.png) [@Monty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Monty)\ **Post date:** [August 27, 2020, 3:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-the-north-not-create-their-own-statues/919066/38 "2020-08-27T15:03:24Z")
> [@Slow\_Moving\_Vehicle](#): > > I’d really really like to see a Freedom Bell atop Stone Mountain, as a monument to Dr. King. I’d really like to see that damn monument to bigotry, hatre, and stupidity blasted off the mountain. ---
**Author:** ![Slow\_Moving\_Vehicle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slow_moving_vehicle/32/291_2.png) [@Slow\_Moving\_Vehicle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Slow_Moving_Vehicle)\ **Post date:** [August 27, 2020, 3:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-the-north-not-create-their-own-statues/919066/39 "2020-08-27T15:28:31Z")
Sure, but the Freedom Bell actually has a chance of happening. ---
**Author:** ![SingleMalt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/singlemalt/32/3961_2.png) [@SingleMalt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SingleMalt)\ **Post date:** [August 27, 2020, 6:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-the-north-not-create-their-own-statues/919066/40 "2020-08-27T18:26:17Z")
I agree! But the straight line was just so… compelling. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-the-north-not-create-their-own-statues/919066.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-the-north-not-create-their-own-statues/919066.md?page=3)