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Commission Recommends Removal Of 2 Confederate Monuments In Baltimore

BALTIMORE (WJZ) -- After spending months researching and reviewing Baltimore's Confederate monuments, a special commission appointed by Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake has recommended removing two of them.

The seven members of the commission -- four from the city's Commission for Historical and Architectural Preservation (CHAP) and three from the Public Arts Commission -- studied and evaluated four sculptures:

  • Confederate Soldiers and Sailors Monument located on Mount Royal Avenue near Mosher Street
  • Confederate Women's of Maryland, located at Bishop Square Park
  • Roger B. Taney Monument, located at Mt. Vernon Place
  • Lee & Jackson Monument, located in Wyman Park Dell

"I'm really concerned that this goes on in a city that's largely made up by people who are descended from those slaves," said Adrian Bishop, a Baltimore resident.

On its website, Sons of Confederate Veterans Maryland division is pictured at the Lee and Jackson monument in Baltimore's Wyman Park Dell, in honor of soldiers who fought on the side of slavery.

"I don't think any of the commission members were interested in erasing or re-writing history but we certainly should work to interpret it for today's context," said Stephanie Rawlings-Blake.

They recommended deaccessioning and removing the Lee and Jackson Monument and offering it to the National Park Service to be placed in Chancellorsville Battlefield, and deaccessioning and removing the Roger B. Taney Monument.

They recommend that the Confederate Soldiers and Sailors Monument and the Confederate Women's Monument be retained with the addition of financial support and recontexuatlization.

"In the short-term, I am requesting that CHAP will work with stakeholders to install interpretive signage at all 4 monuments," Rawlings-Blake said in a statement. "Furthermore, I am requesting that CHAP and BOPA consider any viable relocation proposals should such a proposal(s) be made."

Approximately 65,000 Marylanders fought for the union compared to 22,000 who fought for the confederacy.

As for removing two of the monuments, there have been no proposals from anyone to take them.

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