Statue of John Lewis stands where the Confederate Memorial once stood in Decatur
Decatur erects monument to Congressman John Lewis
Decatur has a new monument honoring the late Congressman John Lewis. DeKalb County and the City of Decatur spent four years planning how to honor the civil rights icon and raised $700,000 to start the project. Lewis is replacing a Confederate monument that stood for over 100 years.
DECATUR, Georgia. – A crowd gathered at a Georgia city park on Saturday to witness the unveiling of a large bronze statue of the late civil rights leader and congressman. John Lewis which stands on the same site as a controversial Confederate monument that was dismantled four years ago.
The crowd, which included neighbors, politicians and civil rights leaders, applauded as a black veil was pulled down and the 12-foot-high Statue of Lewis at Decatur’s historic square.
Known for his role at the forefront of the civil rights movement, Lewis was a Democratic congressman from Georgia. He died of pancreatic cancer in 2020.
Lewis’ statue stands on the same site as an obelisk erected by the United Daughters of the Confederacy in 1908 and removed in 2020.
Groups such as the Beacon Hill Black Alliance for Human Rights and Hate Free Decatur had been pushing for the removal of the Confederate monument since the deadly attack. White nationalist rally in Charlottesville, Virginia in 2017.
Workers remove Confederate monument from Decatur Square
It was a quick but delicate process to remove the obelisk Confederate monument from Decatur Square on Thursday evening.
The memorial was among those across the country that became flashpoints for protests against police brutality and racial injustice following the death of George Floyd at the hands of police in Minneapolis. The city of Decatur then asked a Georgia judge to order the removal of the memorial, which has often been vandalized and defaced with graffiti, saying it had become a threat to public safety.
