Some strange statues. I think it was best to remove them. They are all by the same sculptor and were financed by the same philanthropist.
Robert E. Lee was from Virginia, but he had no connection to Charlottesville. In a contemporary context, it seems to be celebrating the Confederacy attempt to preserve slavery. I see no reason to have a Lee sculpture there.
Stonewall Jackson was born about 70 miles from Charlottesville. Not real close, but not too far. Jackson owned a few slaves. He wasn't for or against slavery and just accepted it as the way things are. He was a military man for the US an when the Civil War broke out he was from Virginia so he joined the Confederate military basically just because of where he lived. The major problem with Jackson was after his death people gave him a significant role in the Lost Cause myth and he became a symbol of the Jim Crow era and perpetuation of discrimination against Blacks. So it has to go.
George Rogers Clark was from the area of Charlottesville and was the father of Clark of Lewis and Clark. He was a military man for the colonies that became the United States. A Revolutionary War hero. At the time was was called the "Conqueror of the Northwest" because he defeated the British at several posts in the Northwest Territory that is now basically Ohio, Michigan, Indiana, Illinois, Wisconsin and a bit of Minnesota.
The Lewis and Clark and Sacagawea is the most strange. Lewis from around Charlottesville and as mentioned above so was Clark's father. They had an expedition to the West coast that is significant of the History of United States. A statue to them in Charlottesville is appropriate. It has a good theme of the first view of the Pacific ocean. They went from around Charlottesville all the way to the end of the land. The statue shows them staring out at the Pacific.
But what the heck is going on with Sacagawea? She was their guide and translator. But it looks like they are dragging her along like a dog. Or her child just died and she is clinging to them in despair. Or she is an alcoholic who just collapsed into a crumbled pile and is distracted by a grasshopper.
The sculptor is for the hometown heroes of Lewis and Clark. Sacagawea is a secondary figure, so it makes sense that she would be smaller or lower. The obvious solution would be to have her crouching behind them or knelling and pointing forward. That makes her secondary. Guides point to things. And that also symbolizes the direction west. That is exactly the type of simplistic trite symbolism that this sculptor uses.
Sacagawea in this position symbolizes...I don't know. It doesn't make sense. Unless it is a super woke post-modern representation of of the puffed-chest chiseled-chin confidence of Whites on the discovery of new land to conquer and the defeated collapse of Sacagawea with anticipatory knowledge of the resulting terror and attempted genocide of her people. Somehow I suspect that was not the intent.
I see no reason for the Lee or Jackson sculptures to be replaced. The George Rogers Clark sculpture should probably be replaced with something that actually depicts his significance in defeating the British.
There really should be a replacement for the Lewis and Clark statue. I think something similar with Lewis and Clark at the forefront and Sacagawea pointing out would be good. Or maybe Lewis and Clark as children with some symbolism of the interest in exploration.
I hope the sculptures find a new home rather than being destroyed. Many Civil War statues and memorials, especially from the 1920s and 1960s, were just to perpetuate the discriminations against and oppression of Blacks. Those can go in the junk pile, other than maybe a couple as representation of a terrible past like displaying a 1930s KKK robe in a museum.
I think these sculptures are different. I think they were simply to honor significant figures from Charlottesville and Virginia. I don't think there was any racist intent, unlike the many other Civil War monuments.
But the sculptures do have a wrongheadedness. Removing them from public spaces is appropriate. But unlike the other blatantly monuments, destruction is not. They have significant historical, artistic, and cultural value. Creations from our past that are not simply deplorable but that are insightful in the way we create public art works. I hope they find a good home in a museum that puts them into an appropriate and meaningful context.
