Confederate monument removed from Virginia capital, will be given to Black History Museum

Richmond’s last remaining city-owned Confederate monument, which is of General A.P. Hill, has been removed from Virginia’s capital and it will likely be given to the Black History Museum.

Four indirect descendants of Hill had requested that the city give them the statue, but a judge rejected their request.

Richmond officials made the decision to transport the statues to the Black History Museum and Cultural Center of Virginia, the HuffPost reported. Their efforts have hit an extra roadblock with Hill’s remains having been buried under the statue since 1891.

Hill’s descendants had requested that the statue be moved to a cemetery in Cedar Mountain Battlefield.

Virginia, once the capital of the Confederacy, began removing most Confederate monuments after racial justice protests fueled by the death of George Floyd.

“Richmond had more Confederate monuments than any other city in the United States of America, and we were the former capital of the Confederacy,” Mayor Levar Stoney said, according to the HuffPost. “And so this wasn’t just two years of work, this was a hundred years of difficult work.”

“I’m proud of my city,” Stoney added. “We’ve done something that a lot of communities have struggled with, and I think a ton of people are ready to turn the page.”