Jacksonville, FL — Work crews assembled at Hemming Park before sunrise to remove the Confederate monument. It has stood at the park since 1898, according to the Florida Archaeology Network.
The monument was donated to the State of Florida by Charles C and Lucy Key Hemming. Standing at 62 feet, the Confederate monument in Hemming Park was one of the few landmarks of Jacksonville that survived the 1901 fire.
There have been prior efforts to remove the monument, but all prior attempts have ultimately faded away. But, just over two weeks after George Floyd was killed in police custody in Minneapolis, demonstrations have been held daily in Jacksonville and in communities across the nation.
Last Friday, the Jacksonville Jaguars marched from TIAA Bank Field to the Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office, where wide receiver Chris Conley brought up discussion about the removal of the monument in the wake of Black Lives Matter protests and police brutality.
“Our revisionist history would tell us that it’s there to honor men fighting for state’s rights, but true history would tell us that in the cornerstone addressed, Alexander Stevens said that our states are built on the fact that the negro is inferior and slavery and subordination is his normal and natural state. That’s true history,” Conley said.
In 2018, the City of St. Augustine opted to keep a Confederate war memorial in place in the Plaza de la Constitucion in downtown, but with added contextualization.
WOKV’s Hannah Lee is at Hemming Park and will be providing updates throughout the day here, on 104.5 FM.
#Jacksonville families are waking up and coming to see the now empty pedastool of the former Confederate monument in Hemming Park. Their questions for city leaders AT 7 on @ActionNewsJax pic.twitter.com/in3zkY8ITg
— Beth Rousseau (@BethANJax) June 9, 2020
GONE | Statue and plaque honoring fallen Confederate soldiers removed from Hemming Park in downtown #Jacksonville. I'm LIVE at 5 on @ActionNewsJax pic.twitter.com/YiA6Raakcm
— Beth Rousseau (@BethANJax) June 9, 2020
#ANJaxBREAKING: It appears the confederate monument is being removed from Hemming Park in downtown Jax @ActionNewsJax @WOKVNews pic.twitter.com/bKKzfRo4g3
— Beth Rousseau (@BethANJax) June 9, 2020
The confederate statue in Hemming Park is gone. A historic moment for the city of Jacksonville. The mayor is expected to talk today at 10 a.m. pic.twitter.com/tXZvWPTksA
— Hannah Lee (@HannahLee_WOKV) June 9, 2020
People all morning have been stopping by and taking pictures of the now gone confederate statue. @WOKVNews @ActionNewsJax pic.twitter.com/wWdpQPF6ER
— Hannah Lee (@HannahLee_WOKV) June 9, 2020
LIVE: Confederate Statue in Hemming Park taken down by the city.
Posted by News 104.5 WOKV on Tuesday, June 9, 2020
STILL STANDING | Monument to the Women of the Confederacy is still up in Confederate Park. There is a large JSO presence keeping an eye on the park @ActionNewsJax @WOKVNews pic.twitter.com/qW5r13WiSo
— Beth Rousseau (@BethANJax) June 9, 2020
The Confederate statue in Hemming Park taken down overnight just hours before a protest just feet away in front of City Hall. @BethANJax has a live report. pic.twitter.com/q0N3I6RrNb
— Phil Amato (@PhilAmatoANjax) June 9, 2020
Jacksonville, Florida is the latest city to take down a Confederate monument
Posted by Jamie Dupree on Tuesday, June 9, 2020