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Robert E. Lee

  • FILE - A statue of former U.S. Vice President and slavery advocate John C. Calhoun is raised by crews after its removal from a 100-foot-tall monument on Wednesday, June 24, 2020, in Charleston, S.C. Lawsuits filed to stop the removal of memorials to Confederate leaders and the pro-slavery congressman in a South Carolina city have been dropped. The Post and Courier reports that the American Heritage Association helped fund one of the lawsuits. It had been filed by descendants of John C. Calhoun, a former congressman and vice president who died before the Civil War. (AP Photo/Meg Kinnard, File)
    SC News
    Suits to save Confederate icons dropped in South Carolina
    Associated Press
    Lawsuits filed to stop the removal of memorials to Confederate leaders and a pro-slavery congressman in a South Carolina city have been dropped. The Post and Courier reports that the American Heritage Association helped fund one of the lawsuits. It had been filed by descendants of John C. Calhoun, a former congressman and vice president who died before the Civil War. The suit had opposed the city of Charleston's removal of Calhoun's statue. Another suit opposed the removal of a Robert E. Lee Memorial Highway marker in Charleston, and the renaming of an auditorium that had been named after a treasury secretary of the Confederacy.
  • This photo provided by the city of Charleston, S.C. shows a historical marker honoring Robert E. Lee in Charleston, S.C. South Carolina's top lawyer and Charleston appear to be heading to court to figure out if the city broke a state law protecting Confederate memorials when it removed a marker commemorating a rebel general from the front lawn of a public school. The stone memorial calling the street outside the school the “Robert E. Lee Highway” was removed in July at the request of leaders at the Charleston Charter School for Math and Science in downtown Charleston, city officials said. (City of Charleston via AP)
    SC News
    'Robert E. Lee is not a war,' SC city argues to move marker
    Jeffrey Collins/Associated Press
    Lawyers for the city of Charleston say a marker honoring a Confederate general is not protected from removal under South Carolina law because of the way the 2000 act was written. The attorney say the Heritage Act only protects monuments to 10 wars specifically mentioned. They wrote "Robert E. Lee is not a war" in a letter to state Attorney General Alan Wilson, who demanded the city put the maker back in front of the Charleston Charter School for Math and Science. The city removed the marker last summer after the school's principal said it was a pain point for the majority-minority school which was also the first in Charleston to integrate.