EASTON, Md. (AP) — A Confederate monument is set to be moved from a courthouse lawn on Maryland’s Eastern Shore after local officials voted Tuesday night to relocate it to a Virginia battleground.
The Talbot County Council voted 3-2 to approve a resolution to move the “Talbot Boys” statue that commemorates more than 80 soldiers who fought for the Confederacy, news outlets reported. The statue dedicated in 1916 is thought to be the last Confederate monument still standing on public property in Maryland besides cemeteries and battlefields.
For years, local activists have fought for the removal of the Jim Crow-era statue on the lawn adjacent to a former slave market site in Easton. In May, civil rights advocates sued the county seeking the court-ordered removal of the statue depicting a soldier with a Confederate flag draped over one shoulder, calling it a racist symbol of oppression and claiming it is unconstitutional and illegal.
Private funds will cover the cost of relocating the statue to the private Cross Keys Battlefield in Harrisonburg, Virginia.
Council member Corey Pack, who previously opposed moving the statue, said the killing of George Floyd changed his mind, but a resolution he co-sponsored last year failed. Frank Divilio, who opposed removal last year, cast the deciding vote Tuesday.
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