Confederate Heritage Group Sues To Deny Removal Of Confederate Monument From Tuskegee, Ala. Site
A Confederate heritage group is fighting an Alabama county’s lawsuit that could lead to the removal of a rebel monument in the middle of nearly all-Black Tuskegee, Ala.
According to U.S. News & World Report, Jay Hinton, an attorney for the United Daughters of the Confederacy, says the group wants the monument to remain.
"All of those members have ancestors who are honored by that monument,” he said.
Macon County has asked a court to give it the deed to a downtown square where the memorial has stood for 115 years. It’s located in front of the county courthouse in a city that is 97 percent African American and has been the subject of protests and attempts for removal for decades.
WSFA-TV reports that the Macon County Commission’s suit is against both the local and state chapters of the Confederate heritage, arguing that the county owns the property the statue is located on and wants title to the plot.
Records show that the county provided the land to the Confederate heritage group for use as a park for white people in 1906. However, the suit contends the property belongs to the county because its actions at the time were illegal.
The county said it’s willing to negotiate with the group, and if someone comes forward from it, they could settle and give the statue to them.
NBC News reports civil rights lawyer Fred Gray, who represented Rosa Parks in the Montgomery Bus Boycott in 1955, and who filed the complaint in this case, has been attempting to locate members of the Tuskegee chapter of the United Daughters of the Confederacy. Only one member has been found and they live in Elba, Alabama.
