The University of Texas moves Confederate statues

The University of Texas has moved statues depicting Confederate Gens. Robert E. Lee and Albert Sidney Johnston; John Reagan, who served as postmaster during the Civil War and former Texas Gov. James Stephen Hogg, whose father was a Confederate brigadier general, from their previously central location on its Austin campus.

"Confederate monuments have become symbols of modern white supremacy and neo-Nazism," a statement from University president Greg Fenves said.

The Lee, Johnston and Reagan statues will be added to the collection at Dolph Briscoe Center for American History , the statement said. The statue of Hogg will be considered for placement elsewhere on campus.

Statues depicting CSA President Jefferson Davis and former U.S. President Woodrow Wilson were relocated in June 2015, after nine worshippers were shot to death in a Charleston, S.C. church.

The statues had been in the heart of campus in the shadow of the famous bell tower. A statue of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. stands near where the relocated statues had been.

Credit: Jennifer Brett

Credit: Jennifer Brett

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(Incidentally, I took these photos of some of the statues when I was in Austin for a conference; they were located in a very shady spot and I took the photos on a very sunny day. So, they're a little hard to make out).

The move follows efforts elsewhere to take down statues with Confederate ties following the recent violence in Charlottesville, Va.. The mayor of Baltimore had structures removed and the mayor of Lexington, Ky. says his town will do so as well.

Credit: Jennifer Brett

The outrage sparked protest march in Atlanta and elsewhere. The Atlanta march traveled from Woodruff Park to Piedmont Park, where some damaged the Peace Monument, which is a 1911 sculpture meant to urge reconciliation, not venerate the Confederacy. It features an angel standing above a Confederate soldier, guiding him to lay down his weapon. The monument reflects a period of great transition in Georgia history.

Credit: Jennifer Brett

Meanwhile, the amusement park chain Six Flags is now essentially One Flag (although the name hasn't changed). The original Six Flags was founded in Texas, and the name reflects the flags that have officially flown over Texas: Mexico, Spain, France, The Republic of Texas, the Confederate States of America and the United States of America. Six Flags Texas took down all the other flags amid the uproar following Charlottesville, and the Georgia property followed suit.