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Jefferson Davis
The statue in the National Statuary Hall Collection
Artist	Henry Augustus Lukeman
Medium	Bronze sculpture
Location	First St SE, Washington, D.C., United States

Jefferson Davis is a bronze sculpture of Jefferson Davis, a US Senator, US Secretary of War, plantation owner and the only President of the Confederate States of America, by Henry Augustus Lukeman. It is installed at the United States Capitol's National Statuary Hall, in Washington, D.C., as part of the National Statuary Hall Collection. The statue was given by the State of Mississippi and in 1931.

History

1931 Unveiling Ceremony

In 1864, Congress passed legislation that invited each state to contribute two statues of prominent citizens for permanent display in the former meeting hall of the U.S. House of Representatives, which was renamed National Statuary Hall. The State of Mississippi commissioned Henry Augustus Lukeman to sculpt statues of Jefferson Davis and James Z. George to be presented as Mississippi's first contributions to the National Statuary Hall's collection. Lukeman had previously contributed to the construction of Confederate memorial Stone Mountain in Georgia.

Henry Augustus Lukeman's statues of Jefferson Davis and James Z. George were presented and unveiled on June 2, 1931 in a ceremony held in Statuary Hall in the United States Capitol. Adele Hayes-Davis, Jefferson Davis's great-granddaughter, officially unveiled the statue of Jefferson Davis. The United States Marine Band performed music including "The Star Spangled Banner" and "Dixie." Arthur Cook, a member of the office of the Architect of the Capitol who was in charge of the arrangements for the unveiling ceremony, claimed that the unveiling ceremony had the largest crowd ever gathered in Statuary Hall. (Make sure to add this)

Journalist Edgar S. Wilson and United States Senator Pat Harrison each delivered commemorative addresses honoring Jefferson Davis. Wilson favorably compared Jefferson Davis to Abraham Lincoln, the President of the United States during the American Civil War between the United States of America and the Southern Confederacy. Wilson also read a March 10, 1884 speech that Jefferson Davis gave to the Mississippi State Legislature in its entirety as well as a passage from Jefferson Davis's book The Rise and Fall of the Confederate Government. In both the 1884 speech and the passage from his book, Davis was unrepentant for Secession and promoted the Confederacy as a heroic and justified Lost Cause.

Senator Harrison in his speech states that Jefferson Davis was "entitled" to his place in Statuary Hall "fixed in the history of a great and reunited country" alongside "his comrades - [[[Statue of Robert E. Lee (U.S. Capitol)|Robert E.] Lee]], [Wade] Hampton, [Joseph] Wheeler, [Alexander H] Stephens, [Edmund] Kirby Smith and James Z. George" in addition to "[Henry] Clay, [Daniel] Webster, [Lewis] Cass and [John C.]Calhoun." Harrison also addressed Mississippi's delay in placing statues in Statuary Hall by saying that "There never has been a day since [Mississippi] received the nation's gracious invitation that her first choice among all the array of distinguished and illustrious characters to occupy a place here would be Jefferson Davis. No other name is so closely interwoven with [Mississippi's] history and so securely riveted in the affection of her people. Without apology for the part she played in that tragic drama which divided the sections and tore the nation asunder [Mississippi] has realized the sensitive character of the national situation and believed that in the passing of years the scars of strife and the wounds of conflict would heal and the time would come when the tolerant spirit of the reunited people would concede to the people of both sections a conscientious discharge of duty as they saw it under the Constitution and the principles of our government."

Public Reaction to the Statue

The Houston Post, in a 1930 editorial published in newspapers around the country discussing the future installation of the Jefferson Davis Statue in Statuary Hall, stated "Justice to Jefferson Davis was long delayed, but it has been coming, and the placing of this statue in the nation's Capitol along with those of other great servants of the country, will hasten the day when the great leader in the lost cause will be accorded his rightful place in the history of the country."

In the lead up to the unveiling of the Davis and George Statues, The Atlanta Constitution published an editorial describing Jefferson Davis as "a chief apostle of southern sentiments and aspirations" and a "martyr and immortal" "who sacrificed splendidly." They added that the "gallant and grateful Mississippians have honored their statue and themselves by fixing [Davis's] sculptured personality among the famous of the nation" and the "ceremonies of presentation of these statues will mark one of the notable days in the country's annals."

The Daily News published an editorial criticizing Mississippi for choosing "as her favorite son the slavery leader" Jefferson Davis, "the leader of the cause which sought to split up the United States." A cause that was "based on the most barbarous cruel and vicious institution ever invented - human slavery." Commenting on the popular commemoration of Confederates, the editorial found it peculiar that "Most southerners honor the men who tried to break up the Union above the southerners who played an enormous role in building the Union."

In a Letter to the editor published in the Burlington Free Press, W.W. Jeffords commented on the unveiling of the Jefferson Davis statue writing that "When we stop and consider that [Jefferson Davis] was an arch-traitor and unrepentant all of his life subsequent to the close of the Civil War and refused to avail himself of the privilege of the general Amnesty Act . . . it seems almost incredible that his lifeless image should have been admitted to the National Capitol."

Criticism " "

Later history

Part of larger Confederate Memorial celebrations.

1942, United Confederate Veterans, Children of the Confederacy, and United Daughters of the Confederacy. "To be honored as a great man after the history of a lost cause has been written is to be truly great in the finest and most exact send of the term" Representative Bryson (D-SC). Wreaths, and speeches, Marine Band. Confederate Memorial Day, Sunday following Davis's June 3rd birthday.

1947, Wreath laying ceremony, United Daughters of the Confederacy. Birthday ceremony. Georgetown University history Professor Dr. Charles C. Tansill, "The responsibility of the Civil War rests securely upon one pair of shoulders and those shoulders belonged to Abraham Lincoln." Mrs. John Wilcox, president-general of the U.D.C declared "His allusions to Mr. Lincoln do not reflect our views. We think it rather untimely that those remarks were made. We don't care to start up a controversy"

1949, Confederate Patriotic Groups will place wreaths. Representative John Rankin (D-Miss) principal speaker.

1953, UDC, the Sons of Confederate Veterans, Children of the Confederacy wreath laying ceremony, Rep. Frank Eliis Smith (D-Miss).

1954, Wreath laying, UDC, Sons of Confederate Veterans. Rep. Charles E. Bennet (D-Fla) characterized Jefferson Davis as "one of the finest Americans we could possibly select for our consideration select for our consideration." Jefferson Davis, "man of courage" and "it takes courage today to stand out against centralized government . . . and for people to insist that local governments take responsibility."

1957, United Daughters of the Confederacy, laid wreaths, JD's birthday.

1959, wreath laying ceremony was preceded by unveilng ceremony of a wax figure of Jefferson Davis to the National Historic Wax Museum. Principal address by Sen. John Stennis of Mississippi.

1997, April 26th wreath laying ceremony Sons, Daughters, and Children of the Confederacy.

One critic, Confederate Memorial Association President John Hurley, however, issued a press release branding April 26 gathering at the Capitol and a similar event April 27 at the Confederacy monument in nearby Arlington National Cemetery as "the worst capitulations to white supremacy" in Washington since Ku Klux Klan racists marched on Pennsylvania Avenue in the 1920s.

Calls for Removal

2015

Washington Post 06/23/2015: The killings of nine churchgoers in Charleston last week by an alleged white supremacist brought new attention to the Confederate battle flag flying outside the South Carolina state house, and beyond. There are many symbols of the Confederacy and of racist ideology in other capitals -- including the U.S. Capitol.

ABC News 06/24/2015: Despite a growing chorus of calls to remove the Confederate battle flag from the South Carolina Capitol and the Mississippi flag, nearly a dozen statues of Confederate leaders and those associated with the movement are still standing in the U.S. Capitol building. And several Southern lawmakers say they’re content to keep it that way –- at least for now.

Much like the flags, a statue at the U.S. Capitol can be removed and replaced by a resolution from a state’s legislature and approved by its governor. But some suggested the historical figures would be harder to part with.And on Tuesday Sen. Thad Cochran, R-Mississippi, laughed off a question about the Davis statue at the U.S. Capitol, only saying it's "part of our history."

2017

Clarion Ledger 3/4/2017

Gov. Phil Bryant said he would be willing to have “a general discussion about the Mississippi statues, particularly J.Z. George. B.B. King and Elvis would both be good possibilities for a replacement.”

On Wednesday, a panel at the University of Mississippi will debate whether one or both statues should be replaced.

William “Brother” Rogers, president of the Mississippi Historical Society, who will serve on that panel, said Presley, Faulkner, Welty, Evers and Hamer are all worthy candidates.

Price wrote a note, urging state Sen. Lydia Chassaniol, R-Winona, to change the statues.

“My thought was that the present two persons honored — Jefferson Davis and James Z. George — conjure images of the secession, the Civil War, slavery and the terrible legacy of Jim Crow,” he said.

She criticized those “who refuse to recognize the efforts of the 19th-century pioneers who settled this state and carved a civilization from the wilderness. I refuse to take part in revisionist history and ask the members of the Mississippi Senate to do the same.”

If Mississippi did decide to make a change, it would require the approval of the state Legislature and the governor.

State Sen. John Horhn, D-Jackson, a member of the advisory board for the Mississippi Civil Rights Museum, said the state needs to get away from the divisive images of Davis and George.

He said he sees plenty of worthy candidates: John R. Lynch, Mississippi’s first black congressman; Hiram Revels, the first African-American to serve in the U.S. Senate; Evers, the Mississippi NAACP leader who was assassinated in 1963; James Meredith, the first known African-American student to attend the University of Mississippi; and Evers’ widow, Myrlie Evers, who became a civil rights leader in her own right, chairing the national NAACP and bringing it back from bankruptcy.

If Davis were kept as a statue, Horhn says Revels would make the best counterpoint.

CNN: 8/16/2017: Bertram Hayes-Davis, great-great-grandson of the Confederate president Jefferson Davis told CNN’s Don Lemon that such statues should be moved to a museum if “that’s offensive to a large majority of the public.”

“In a public place, if it is offensive and people are taking issue with it, let’s move it. Let’s put it somewhere where historically it fits with the area around it so you can have people come to see it, who want to understand that history and that individual.”

A Jefferson Davis statue stands inside the National Statuary Hall, at the US Capitol, among other Confederate leaders including Lee.

When asked whether the Davis statue belonged there, Hayes-Davis said, “I think that they were placed there for a reason,” as he listed Davis’ various accomplishments and positions he held.

“I think you have to look at the entire individual before you make a decision whether they belong at the Capitol of the United States or not.”

US News 8/17/2017: "The Confederate statues in the halls of Congress have always been reprehensible," Pelosi said in a statement. "If Republicans are serious about rejecting white supremacy, I call upon Speaker [Paul] Ryan to join Democrats to remove the Confederate statues from the Capitol immediately."

Ryan has not responded publicly to Pelosi or to questions about removing the statues.

Of the confederate statues in the Capitol, two stand out because as they honor the leaders of the Confederacy, both of whom have espoused racist beliefs: Confederate President Jefferson Davis and Vice President Alexander Hamilton Stephens. The statues are in the historic Statuary Hall.

Stephens, in his famous "Cornerstone Speech" prior to the Civil War in 1861, announced that the new Confederate government was "justifiably founded on the idea that blacks were inferior to whites."

Davis extolled similarly racist views in his 1861 justification of slavery, writing that the idea that all men are created equal is a "theory.

Clarion Ledger 8/23/2017: Caucus members said the Charlottesville rally underscored racial tensions flaring up across the country, spurring them to also propose measures to remove Confederate symbols from public places and rename some federal buildings named for Confederate leaders.

"The Confederate statues in the Capitol are offensive to all African-American congressmen and African Americans that visit the Capitol every day," said Rep. Cedric Richmond, D-La., chairman of the Congressional Black Caucus (CBC).

Richmond said the caucus will urge Republicans to support efforts to remove Confederate statues from the Capitol.

“We will do everything we can to remove them,’’ he said. “Some things take legislation some things may not, but not one second are we going to pretend that it’s okay.”

Thompson said Wednesday it's also time for the statues to be removed.

“You’re not erasing history by putting the monuments where people can still see them, but you don’t pay homage to somebody who fought to divide this country," said Thompson, who doesn't display his state flag outside his Washington, D.C. office.

Former Democratic Mississippi Gov. Ray Mabus also said the statues should come down. He said they weren’t put up to honor people who served in the Civil War.

“They were put up to reestablish Jim Crow,’’ Mabus said on CNN Monday. “They were put up to reestablish white control and white supremacy and to disenfranchise African Americans. “

2020

See also

• 1931 in art
• Statue of Jefferson Davis (Austin, Texas)
• List of memorials to Jefferson Davis
• List of Confederate monuments and memorials

Sources

• Acceptance and Unveiling of the Statues of Jefferson Davis and James Z. George. Washington: United States Government Printing Office, 1932.
• “The Mississippi Heroes.” The Atlanta Constitution, May 31, 1931, sec. C. https://www.proquest.com/docview/501330939/fulltextPDF/BF36D4124C04615PQ/1?
• “Davis Reaches Statuary Hall.” Daily News. June 4, 1931. https://www.proquest.com/docview/2277356996/CC32DBE14E414C38PQ/7?
• “Jeff Davis' Statue Scene of Eulogy.” The Washington Post, June 7, 1942, sec. M. https://www.proquest.com/docview/151595361/2666F8D9CE93435DPQ/32?accountid=9673.
• Jeffords, W W. “Objects to Davis Statue in Capitol.” The Burlington Free Press and Times, June 24, 1931. https://www.proquest.com/docview/1952738988/388FC105B5574876PQ/3?accountid=9673.
• “LINCOLN ATTACK TOO MUCH - EVEN TO SOUTHERNERS.” Chicago Daily Tribune, June 4, 1947. https://www.proquest.com/docview/177341086/2666F8D9CE93435DPQ/15?accountid=9673.
• Oulahan, Richard V. “CONFEDERATE CHIEF HONORED IN CAPITOL: Statues of Jefferson Davis and Senator George Unveiled in Statuary Hall.” New York Times, June 3, 1931. https://www.proquest.com/docview/99353490/8C949CF529B34E10PQ/2?
• The Houston Post-Dispatch. “The Davis Statue.” Asbury Park Evening Press, November 12, 1930. https://www.proquest.com/docview/2002493319/CC32DBE14E414C38PQ/3?

External links

• Media related to Jefferson Davis by Augustus Lukeman at Wikimedia Commons