It's time to replace the Smith monument
Editor, Times-Dispatch:
Your recent list of African-American monuments in Richmond missed one. Along the canal at 15th and Dock streets, a cast metal box recalls Henry Box Brown and the way he escaped slavery in 1849. Of course, it was Brown's departure from Richmond and Virginia that enabled him to find freedom and have success.
Regarding monuments, each generation has the right to modify the selections made by previous generations for commemoration. A statue of Henry Clay was displayed in Capitol Square for 70 years, for example, but was removed in the 1930s.
Recalling that precedent, I contend that however Virginians justified putting a statue to Gov. "Extra Billy" Smith in Capitol Square in 1906, those reasons are not good enough today. The Smith monument doesn't merit keeping its position in the Square.
To replace it, I suggest a statue of a more worthy Virginian who was a national leader in a difficult era. Booker T. Washington was educated at Hampton Institute and his birthplace is a national monument in Franklin County.
Washington articulated a philosophy of uplift and improvement that in 2012 continues to be part of the national conversation. Capitol Square would be enhanced by a second Washington.
Jeffrey Ruggles.
Richmond.
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