Robert E. Lee Statue Magnet

The statue of Lee on horseback was erected in 1890 in Richmond, VA, the former capital of the Confederacy. In June of 2020, Virginia Governor Ralph Northam announced that the statue would be removed. At the time, the governor asked to remove the statue “as soon as possible.” However, ongoing litigation has prevented the department from doing so since the Lee monument sits on state-owned land. The Robert E. Lee monument is the last Confederate monument remaining on Richmond’s Monument Avenue. All other Confederate monuments owned by the City of Richmond were removed this past summer following protests over the death of George Floyd in Minnesota.