A controversial Confederate monument, once removed from its post a mile away from the White House, will make its return this fall.
The National Park Service said it restored and will bring back a bronze statue of Albert Pike, a Confederate Army brigadier general, to its original post after protesters in June 2020 brought it down with ropes and chains. Videos of the protesters’ actions surfaced online.
The National Park Service said in an Aug. 4 statement the move supports two of President Donald Trump’s executive orders which direct federal agencies “to protect public monuments and present a full and accurate picture of the American past.”
“The restoration aligns with federal responsibilities under historic preservation law as well as recent executive orders to beautify the nation’s capital and reinstate preexisting statues,” the agency’s statement reads.
After the protesters toppled the statue five years ago, the National Park Service’s Historic Preservation Training Center secured it in storage and moved to restore it.
The monument’s restoration is nearly complete. It is expected to be reinstalled in October, the agency said.
A census Of Confederate symbols and monuments
“Site preparation to repair the statue’s damaged masonry plinth will begin shortly, with crews repairing broken stone, mortar joints, and mounting elements,” the statement reads.
Protesters who called for racial justice and an end to police brutality after former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin killed George Floyd sparked mass critique of Confederate monuments across the nation, including the one slated to be reinstalled in Washington, D.C.
Before it was taken down, the statue of Pike was the only outdoor statue of a Confederate general in the nation’s capital.
The Supreme Council of the Scottish Rite’s Southern Jurisdiction erected the statue in 1901 to honor Pike, who was a Confederate general during the American Civil War, according to the National Park Service. He died in 1981. During his life, Pike helped to develop the Masonry in Arkansas and commanded the Confederacy’s Indian Territory during the Civil War, according to the Encyclopedia of Arkansas.
Contact Kayla Jimenez at kjimenez@usatoday.com. Follow her on X at @kaylajjimenez.
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Albert Pike monument, toppled in 2020 protests, to be reinstalled
