A plaque attached to statue of Jefferson Davis in the State Capitol Rotunda is being removed because it refers to the Confederate president as a hero.
The Historic Properties Advisory Commission voted unanimously in a special meeting on Tuesday to remove the plaque, which will eventually be replaced, according to Commission Chairman Steve Collins.
“The plaque had language designating Davis as a Patriot, Hero and Stateman,” he said. “There are people who think he was heroic, there are people who don’t think he was heroic. We decided to remove the plaque to eliminate that subjective language.”
The commission’s Rotunda committee will come up with new language providing educational context for the statue and other items in the Capitol, Collins said.
“The Civil War was a critical time in our history,” he said. “Our country probably had to go through that in order to eliminate slavery to settle some constitutional issues with respect to secession, states’ rights, and that was all part of the history of that time.”
The plaque will probably be removed by the Office of Historic Properties and Division of Facilities, Collins said, and will not be destroyed, but kept as a historic relic.
It was determined by the committee that the plaque itself had historical relevance, he said. “The time it was placed, public sentiment at the time … so it should be preserved.”
Black leaders in Kentucky have asked for the statue to be removed. In 2015, the Historic Properties Advisory Committee voted to leave the Jefferson Davis statue itself in the Rotunda. When Collins was asked if that vote might be revisited, he said, “No, that has not been expressed to me.”
On Sept. 21, the Rotunda Committee made the recommendation to the Commission to remove and replace the plaque, but because they were one member short of having a quorum on hand a special meeting for Oct. 24 at that time. The Jefferson Davis plaque was the only item on the agenda.
He said the plaque will likely be removed within the next week.
By Kentucky Today
