Activists in Decatur will rally this weekend near the historic DeKalb County courthouse to urge the removal of a cannon with ties to the Creek War of 1836.
The Beacon Hill Black Alliance for Human Rights plans to gather near the monument at 6 p.m. Saturday to raise awareness of the cannon’s history. The activists, joined by Decatur High School students, want to see the cannon removed by the DeKalb County Board of Commissioners.
The United Daughters of the Confederacy installed the cannon in 1906. The group also installed a 30-foot obelisk a few feet away from the cannon in 1908 to honor DeKalb’s Confederate soldiers, but the obelisk was removed by county officials last June.
Several Decatur High School students told the Decatur City Commission last December that the cannon symbolizes the government’s forced removal of indigenous peoples in the 1800s. According to the Muscogee Nation’s website, the U.S. Army enforced the removal of more than 20,000 Muscogee people to Indian Territory in 1836 and 1837.
“We have a hard time with those cannons sticking up there. Some of us are still afraid,” said John Winterhawk of the Muscogee Nation at the commission meeting last December.
Decatur’s four city commissioners passed a resolution supporting the cannon’s removal. DeKalb County is responsible for the cannon because it is located on county property.
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