The City of Little Rock has removed a Confederate statue from the grounds of MacArthur Park.
On Thursday, June 18, the city removed the statue entitled Memorial to Company A, Capital Guards, which depicts a single solider from the Capital Guards, a Confederate militia group. The statue, created by sculptor Rudolph Schwarz, was funded by the Sons of Confederate Veterans organization and installed in Little Rock in 1911.
Little Rock Mayor Frank Scott Jr. issued a statement on the statue’s removal, saying that the statue did not “represent the values of our city today nor the diverse citizenry who stand for unity and justice for all.”
According to Scott, the statue lacked “full context” for the time period that it depicted. The statue will reportedly be stored until a proper location for it can be determined. Scott said that the city would be working with the Arkansas Department of Parks, Heritage and Tourism to determine an appropriate location that the statue could be “viewed in a comprehensive historical context.”
Similar representations of the Confederacy have been taken down around the country in recent weeks. Statues, busts and other representations have either been removed through official means or have been toppled by protestors in the wake of the George Floyd murder.
The base of the Little Rock statue had been vandalized earlier this week. In his statement, Scott said that the base appeared to have been vandalized with gallons of varnish. The Little Rock statue is not the only Arkansas monument that will be taken down – a Confederate monument located on the Bentonville square will be taken down. The Arkansas Division United Daughters of the Confederacy will be taking the statue down and relocating it to a private park.
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