Please ensure Javascript is enabled for purposes of website accessibility
What’s Left of Confederate Monuments in California
gvw_calmatters
By CalMatters
Published 5 years ago on
July 15, 2020

Share

As the U.S. reckons once again with racial inequities, it’s triggered a new round of calls to remove statues and monuments idolizing Confederate leaders and those who enslaved people. While Mississippi is retiring its Confederate battle flag and Alabama and Georgia join the movement to topple bronze statues, California is not without its vestiges of racism and oppression.

Elizabeth Castillo
CALmatters

“You do have a deep link between Southern California and the Confederacy,” said Ryan Keating, an associate professor of history at California State University, San Bernardino. “In the wake of the war, you have Southern veterans who relocate to Southern California en masse and when they arrive, they attempt to memorialize their service through the creation of monuments.”

Keating said these monuments frequently coincide with other historical events. For example, a number of Confederate monuments were erected in the early 1950s shortly after the Supreme Court ruling on Brown v. Board of Education which declared state-sanctioned segregation unconstitutional.

“These monuments and these memorials tend to be in very public places,” Keating said. “They coincide with moments in which African Americans seem to be gaining some political power or voice and they’re designed with a very specific intent of protecting a certain type of power and serving as a reminder of who’s in control.”

A Handful of Highway Markers and Cemetery Memorials Remained Visible

In California, a handful of highway markers and cemetery memorials remained visible but the Black Lives Matter movement quickly pushed the state to eradicate them completely. Some of the markers were erected by the United Daughters of the Confederacy, a historical group dedicated to “honoring the memory of its Confederate ancestors” and labeled neo-Confederate by the Southern Poverty Law Center. The organization still exists today.

“The United Daughters of the Confederacy totally denounces any individual or group that promotes racial divisiveness or white supremacy,” says a statement by President General Nelma Crutcher on the organization’s national homepage. “We are saddened that some people find anything connected with the Confederacy to be offensive. Our Confederate ancestors were and are Americans. We as an Organization do not sit in judgment of them nor do we impose the standards of the 19th century on Americans of the 21st century.”

Messages left with the California chapter and the national organization were not returned.

Jacob Ohara contributed to this story.

RELATED TOPICS:

DON'T MISS

Wired Wednesday: CEMEX’s New Mining Plan for the San Joaquin River

DON'T MISS

Trump Fires NSC Officials a Day After Far-Right Activist Raises Concerns to Him

DON'T MISS

China Halts Approvals for New US Investment Projects

DON'T MISS

Measles Spreads to Central Texas; 5 States Have Active Outbreaks

DON'T MISS

Trump Tariff Fears Erase $2 Trillion From US Stocks

DON'T MISS

Startup Offers Controversial Microplastic Blood Cleansing Treatment

DON'T MISS

Senate Confirms Mehmet Oz to Take Lead of Medicare and Medicaid Agency

DON'T MISS

First California EV Mandates Hit Automakers This Year. Most Are Not Even Close

DON'T MISS

Pence Will Receive the Profile in Courage Award From the JFK Library for His Actions on Jan. 6

DON'T MISS

Politics Turns Ugly for a Conservative Running for Fresno State Student Body President

UP NEXT

Startup Offers Controversial Microplastic Blood Cleansing Treatment

UP NEXT

Pence Will Receive the Profile in Courage Award From the JFK Library for His Actions on Jan. 6

UP NEXT

No More Calling ‘Shotgun?’ CA Could Ban Teens From Riding in Front Seat

UP NEXT

Diehard Baseball Fans in Sacramento Welcome Athletics and Hope They Stay Awhile

UP NEXT

Flores Homers, Matos and Wade Also Go Deep to Help Giants Cap Sweep of Astros

UP NEXT

California’s Schools Chief Has a $200,000 Salary and a Side Gig

UP NEXT

Trump Proposes Tax Deduction for Auto Loan Interest on US-Made Cars

UP NEXT

Western US Sees Sharp Increase in Extreme Weather Impact

UP NEXT

7-Year-Old Girl Was Killed by a Falling Boulder at a Lake Tahoe Ski Resort

UP NEXT

Xavier Becerra Enters 2026 California Governor’s Race

Measles Spreads to Central Texas; 5 States Have Active Outbreaks

3 hours ago

Trump Tariff Fears Erase $2 Trillion From US Stocks

3 hours ago

Startup Offers Controversial Microplastic Blood Cleansing Treatment

3 hours ago

Senate Confirms Mehmet Oz to Take Lead of Medicare and Medicaid Agency

4 hours ago

First California EV Mandates Hit Automakers This Year. Most Are Not Even Close

6 hours ago

Pence Will Receive the Profile in Courage Award From the JFK Library for His Actions on Jan. 6

6 hours ago

Politics Turns Ugly for a Conservative Running for Fresno State Student Body President

6 hours ago

Pentagon’s Watchdog to Review Hegseth’s Use of Signal App to Convey Plans for Houthi Strike

6 hours ago

President Trump’s Tariffs Could Be the Political Tipping Point

7 hours ago

Order That Kept Water in the Kern River Reversed by 5th District Court of Appeal

7 hours ago

Wired Wednesday: CEMEX’s New Mining Plan for the San Joaquin River

GV Wire’s Edward Smith talks with KMPH Fox 26 “Great Day” anchor Christina Rodriguez about the possibility of CEMEX digging a 600-foot hole ...

1 hour ago

1 hour ago

Wired Wednesday: CEMEX’s New Mining Plan for the San Joaquin River

President Donald Trump speaks during an event to announce new tariffs in the Rose Garden at the White House, Wednesday, April 2, 2025, in Washington. (AP/Mark Schiefelbein)
1 hour ago

Trump Fires NSC Officials a Day After Far-Right Activist Raises Concerns to Him

2 hours ago

China Halts Approvals for New US Investment Projects

3 hours ago

Measles Spreads to Central Texas; 5 States Have Active Outbreaks

3 hours ago

Trump Tariff Fears Erase $2 Trillion From US Stocks

3 hours ago

Startup Offers Controversial Microplastic Blood Cleansing Treatment

Dr. Mehmet Oz, President Donald Trump's pick to lead the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, seated right, gives a thumbs-up alongside his wife Lisa Oz, seated left, with friends and family after he testified at his confirmation hearing before the Senate Finance Committee, on Capitol Hill in Washington, Friday, March 14, 2025. (AP/Ben Curtis)
4 hours ago

Senate Confirms Mehmet Oz to Take Lead of Medicare and Medicaid Agency

6 hours ago

First California EV Mandates Hit Automakers This Year. Most Are Not Even Close

Help continue the work that gets you the news that matters most.

Search

Send this to a friend