In an issue that has been brewing for some time but vaulted to the forefront following the events in Charlottesville, Atlanta Mayor Kasim Reed has made good on his pledge to consider alternatives to Confederate-related monuments and names in the city. Reed named the members of the Confederate Monuments Advisory Committee last week and they held their first meeting on Wednesday.
The committee will be considering street names and city-owned monuments linked to the Confederacy. “The tragic events in Charlottesville, Virginia brought renewed attention to Confederate markers and street names around the country, with many elected officials, clergy and members of the public calling for their removal. To ensure that we approach this in a thoughtful manner, and that we include community input in the process, my Administration and the Atlanta City Council worked to assemble a group of advisors to consider each marker,” said Mayor Reed.
Members of the committee come from a variety of backgrounds – business, history and community advocates.
Members of the committee include:
Sheffield Hale, President and CEO, Atlanta History Center;
Derreck Kayongo, CEO, Center for Civil and Human Rights;
Sonji Jacobs, Senior Director of Corporate Affairs, Cox Enterprises;
Dan Moore, Founder, APEX Museum;
Shelley Rose, Senior Associate Director, Southeast Region, Anti-Defamation League;
Larry Gallerstedt, CEO, Cousins Properties; Trustee, Robert Woodruff Foundation;
Douglas Blackmon, Senior Fellow and Director of Public Programs, University of Virginia’s Miller Center; Pulitzer Prize-winning author;
Nina Gentry, Owner, Gentry Planning Services;
Regina Brewer, preservation consultant;
Martha Porter Hall, community advocate;
Brenda Muhammad, Executive Director, Atlanta Victim Assistance.
Hale, from the Atlanta History Center, was elected as the group’s chair. “My hope is that we can come up with a deliberative process and some principles that can be applied over time that will help us work through these issues in a way that’s helpful for the community and healthy,” he told WABE.
The city may come up against state law which prohibits moving or altering Confederate monuments. This law may not apply to street names, where some of the original push for change began. Confederate Avenue is a prominent street connecting Moreland and Boulevard Avenues in Atlanta and runs right into Grant Park, the location of Zoo Atlanta and perhaps Atlanta’s second most popular park. A petition started on change.org currently has nearly 9,000 signatures. Interestingly, the Homes and History Committee of the Grant Park Neighborhood Association has done some research into the name.
There may be more to find but it seems like the name originated from the location of a veterans home along the then dirt road in the late 1800’s. It was named Confederate Avenue because those veterans were Confederates. It was not necessarily an honorific title like many of the other names and monuments across the South. Confederate Avenue is located in an area of the city that has long been home to a majority black population, which some say is a finger in the eye to the residents.
The next meeting, on October 30, will be open for public comment and there are currently two other scheduled meetings in early November. Recommendations from the committee are currently scheduled to be in by November 20.
