Originalism and Confederate statues

Originalism, as it relates to the Constitution, means interpreting text through its original understanding "at the time it was adopted."

As I read about Charlottesville, VA removing three statues from its Market Street Park (formerly Lee Park), I wondered what the original understanding for the statues was at the time they were erected. How did people of that time and place see them? [Source]
Paul Goodloe McIntire had donated all three through the National Sculpture Society between 1919 and 1924, with the one called "Meriwether Lewis and William Clark" erected 1919. The "Thomas Jonathan Jackson" followed in 1921, with the "Robert Edward Lee" in 1924.

On May 17th of that year, the Saturday before its unveiling, Charlottesville's newspaper The Daily Progress reported "Other gifts by Mr. McIntire are the group of William Rogers Clark, conqueror of the Northwest ... and the Keck statues of Stonewall Jackson and of Meriwether Lewis and William Clark with the Indian guide." [Source]

I think it's notable that "the Indian guide," (referring to Sacagawea) wasn't mentioned by name either on the pedestal or in the article.

That same day, Charlottesville hosted a Ku Klux Klan rally. In its issue the following Monday, The Daily Progress said "the march of the white robed figures was impressive, and directed attention to the presence of the organization in the community," and that "thousands lined the sidewalks" while "hundreds sought vantage points at elevated places" "in eagerness to see the parade." [Source]

Then the "Grand Camp of Confederate Veterans of Virginia" held its annual meeting in Charlottesville on Tuesday, May 20. A new organization, the "Sons of Confederate Veterans," also held their inaugeral meeting that day.[Source]

At the unveiling of on Wednesday the 21st, one speaker, Don Palsey, "spoke on behalf of the Sons of Confederate Veterans and charged the committee with the justification and redemption of the 'righteous cause' and the memory of those who fought for its defense. He equated patriotism with support of the Confederacy, then accused any young people who were not proud of their Confederate relatives of dishonoring the South and also God." [Source]

I don't think it was a coincidence that a KKK parade took place at the same time as a massive meeting of Confederate veterans, and then a statue of Robert E. Lee was unveiled with admonitions to keep up the "righteous cause." These statues weren't about honoring bravery. Rather, they were about establishing legitimacy for their own purposes (segregation and white supremacy) by connecting them to a re-constructed past glory. They were, themselves, re-writing history.

One last thing -- there was a blurb in the Saturday, May 17 issue that gave me chills. Although it sounds innocuous, it foreshadowed the natural conclusion of that generation's goals for social engineering:

"Dr. J. S. DeJarnette, of Staunton, will address the Bible Class of the High Street Baptist church at 10 o’clock tomorrow morning. Every member is urged to be on hand. Strangers are invited." [Source]

At the time, Dr. Joseph Spencer DeJarnette was a vocal proponent of racial segregation and eugenics, specifically, the compulsory sterilization of the mentally ill and others deemed "unfit."

In 1938, DeJarnette compared the progress of eugenics in the United States unfavorably with that in Nazi Germany, stating "Germany in six years has sterilized about 80,000 of her unfit while the United States with approximately twice the population has only sterilized about 27,869 to January 1, 1938 in the past 20 years... The fact that there are 12,000,000 defectives in the US should arouse our best endeavors to push this procedure to the maximum." [Source]

Regardless of whatever modern-day understanding of what those statues in Charlottesville represented, I'm glad those monuments have come down.

The values that generation held dear were misplaced. It's time we created something better.