A change in methodology
In June 2021, the Southern Poverty Law Center’s Whose Heritage? project changed its method of cataloguing Confederate monuments that have been removed, because it identified 32 monuments where the pedestals were left in place and the pedestals had words or symbols memorializing the Confederacy.
Monuments will be listed as removed only if the pedestals are also removed. The SPLC believes that removing the statue is not enough and that these pedestals are a symbol for the unfinished business of reckoning with our country’s glorification of the Confederacy. If a pedestal has the name of a Confederate figure or Confederate symbols on it, it’s counted. Our hope is that this redesignation inspires communities to finish the job they started, putting pressure on them to completely remove these symbols of hate.
Photo by AP Images/Kim Chandler
