Virginia removes Robert E. Lee statue from U.S. Capitol

The statue of Robert E. Lee in the U.S. Capitol as it is removed from the building.
(Image credit: Jack Mayer/Office of Governor of Virginia, File)

A statue of Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee that stood in the National Statuary Hall in the U.S. Capitol for 111 years was removed on Monday, Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam (D) said.

Each state can place two statues in the collection, and Virginia contributed the Lee figure. In its place, Virginia plans on installing a statue of civil rights pioneer Barbara Johns, who led a student strike in 1951, calling for equal education at her Virginia high school. Her case was consolidated into the Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka lawsuit, which led to the Supreme Court ruling in 1954 that racial segregation in public schools was unconstitutional.

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Catherine Garcia, The Week US

Catherine Garcia has worked as a senior writer at The Week since 2014. Her writing and reporting have appeared in Entertainment Weekly, The New York Times, Wirecutter, NBC News and "The Book of Jezebel," among others. She's a graduate of the University of Redlands and the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism.