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Unveiling of the Lee Monument, Richmond, VA, May 29, 1890
More than 100,00 exuberant white southerners gathered for the dedication of the Robert E. Lee monument in 1890. Addressing the crowd, former Confederate Archer Anderson echoed the Lost Cause narrative by saying it should "stand as the embodiment of a brave and virtuous people's ideal leader." John Mitchell, Jr., the African-American editor of the Richmond Planet, commented that such reverence of Confederate leaders "serves to retard [the South's] progress in the country and forges heavier chains with which to be bound." |