DECATUR, Ga. — A crowd gathered in a Georgia city park on Saturday to witness the unveiling of a large bronze statue of the late civil rights leader and congressman Jan Lewis which stands on the same site as a controversial Confederate monument that was dismantled four years ago.
The crowd, which included neighbors, politicians and civil rights leaders, applauded as a black veil was pulled down to cover the 12-foot-tall statue of Lewis on the historic square of Decatur, Atlanta television station WSB-TV reported.
Lewis was known for his role at the forefront of the Civil Rights Movement and was a Democratic congressman from Georgia. He died in 2020 from pancreatic cancer.
The statue of Lewis stands on the same site as an obelisk erected in 1908 by the United Daughters of the Confederacy and removed in 2020. Groups including the Beacon Hill Black Alliance for Human Rights and Hate Free Decatur had been pushing for the Confederate monument’s removal since the deadly White nationalist rally in Charlottesville, Virginia, 2017.
The monument was among several across the country that became focal points for protests against police brutality and racial injustice following the death of George Floyd at the hands of police in Minneapolis. The city of Decatur subsequently asked a Georgia judge to order the removal of the monument, which has been frequently vandalized and marked with graffiti, saying it had become a threat to public safety.
