Va. crowd rallies for new memorial that honors slaves, Union soldiers

Source: W Post

By Elizabeth Koh

Slaves were once sold on the steps of the old Loudoun County courthouse in downtown Leesburg, which bore stocks and whipping posts. Although 150 years have passed, the courthouse retains a symbol of its Civil War days: a statue of a Confederate soldier, rifle at the ready, facing west.

As the national debate over Confederate symbols on public property continues to gain steam since the June 17 slayings at a historic African American church in Charleston, S.C., dozens of people gathered at the courthouse Saturday morning calling for a change locally: They want a memorial that would also honor the lives of slaves and Union soldiers.

“Our history’s not being told from the standpoint of what really occurred,” said Phillip E. Thompson, president of the Loudoun NAACP, which organized the rally. “We think we’re sending the wrong message about Loudoun County and who we really are.”

Residents and officials from across the county and the region came to the “remembrance rally,” including Leesburg Mayor Kristen C. Umstattd and Scott K. York, chairman of the county’s Board of Supervisors. It also drew a handful of counterprotesters, who displayed Confederate flags on another side of the courthouse during the event.

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Supporters attend a rally held by the Loudoun County Branch of the NAACP in remembrance of the slaves sold on the steps of the courthouse and the Union soldiers who died liberating Loudoun County at the Loudoun County Courthouse in Leesburg, Va., on Saturday, July 18, 2015. (Nikki Kahn/The Washington Post)

Read more: http://www.washingtonpost.com/local/virginia-crowd-rallies-for-memorial-to-honor-slaves-union-soldiers/2015/07/18/1033dc70-2d74-11e5-bd33-395c05608059_story.html