Four monuments tied to the Confederacy and American slavery were taken down in Baltimore very early Wednesday morning after the City Council voted for their immediate removal on Monday. From CNN:
By early Wednesday, video posted on social media showed cranes slowly lowering some of the monuments from their perches. Mayor Catherine Pugh told WBAL that some of the monuments will be sent to Confederate cemeteries.
The removals come as cities and states are considering taking down Confederate monuments following the clashes at Saturday’s rally in Charlottesville, Virginia, which left one anti-racism protester dead.
According to Baltimore’s WBAL, the four monuments removed were a statue of Supreme Court Justice Roger Taney, who wrote the majority opinion in Dred Scott; a monument to Confederate Gens. Robert E. Lee and Stonewall Jackson; a monument to Confederate soldiers and sailors; and a Confederate women’s monument.
The New York Times reports that small crowds were present to celebrate the removals and that Black Lives Matter was spray painted on the pedestal of the Lee-Jackson monument.
Baltimore-based writer Alec MacGillis documented the overnight removals:
