Two MSU Professors Petition for Jefferson Davis Statue to be Moved from Capitol (KY)

[struggle4progress]

... Dr. Bolin says that the letter calls for the removal of the statue from the rotunda, not the destruction of the statue, and suggests moving it to the Thomas D. Clark Center for Kentucky History in Frankfort ... He says the capitol rotunda in Frankfort is a place to honor Kentuckians who have made significant contributions to the Commonwealth's history ... Davis himself considered himself not a Kentuckian but a Mississippian ... Dr. Bolin says he served as Secretary of War under Franklin Pierce and was a war hero in the U.S.-Mexican War, when his "home state" of Mississippi seceded, he sided with the South and joined the Confederacy, rising to become president. Dr. Bolin argues that Davis didn't make a significant contribution specifically to Kentucky's history ...

Todd Hatton asks about the statue of Robert E. Lee in Murray, despite Lee never having actually been in this part of Kentucky ... Dr. Pizzo says many of these statues are a product of the era after the Civil War ... With the rise of segregation and Jim Crow, Kentucky ... consigned itself to the Confederacy after the war.

Hatton asks if there's a discord when most people seem to let these symbols and statues fade into the background until someone says 'maybe we should think of getting rid of it.' Dr. Bolin adds .. "It's a finger not just a symbol" ...

Approximately 100,000 Kentuckians fought for the Union and 40,000 for the Confederacy, Dr. Bolin says. He cites historian E. Merton Coulter who said Kentucky only seceded after the Civil War ...

http://wkms.org/post/audio-two-msu-professors-petition-jefferson-davis-statue-be-moved-capitol#stream/0