A Confederate statue stands outside the Alamance County Courthouse in Graham, NC. The statue was first erected over a century ago; now, some organizations would like to see it taken down. | Photo by Kelly Kendall
Story by Kelly Kendall
Anchor Intro: There are more than 150 Confederate monuments in North Carolina, many of which have become controversial in towns and cities. Reporter Kelly Kendall brings us the story of two Piedmont Triad monuments, their controversies, and their different outcomes.
Standup: The town of Graham and the city of Winston-Salem are separated by a 50-mile stretch of highway. Like many North Carolina towns, they both have been home to Confederate monuments and have seen years-long legal battles about them. The difference? In WS, the statue is no longer standing.
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Outside the Alamance County Courthouse in Graham, a thirty-foot monument topped with a Confederate soldier watches over the town. The Graham chapter of the United Daughters of the Confederacy erected the statue in 1914. More than a century later, some in Graham are ready to see it COME down, like Ebony Pinnix, an organizer with Down Home NC. The group is one of several organizations that sued Alamance County to take down the statue in 2021
Ebony Pinnix, Down Home NC, Piedmont Regional Organizer
3:24-3:31 “The argument of the Confederates is that taking the statues down is erasing their history. But yet, ours have never been told.”
Under the Monument Protection Act, “a monument, memorial, or work of art owned by the State may not be removed, relocated, or altered in any way without the approval of the North Carolina Historical Commission.” But, the plaintiffs argued Alamance County maintaining and protecting the statue is a Constitutional violation.
Ebony Pinnix, Down Home NC, Piedmont Regional Organizer
5:11-5:19 “We’re not saying destroy the statue; we don’t want to knock it down. We do understand it is a part of history, but we feel like there’s a place for it.”
The North Carolina Court of Appeals ruled in favor of the county in March, signaling to Pinnix that what she was told by local officials years earlier was correct.
Ebony Pinnix, Down Home NC, Piedmont Regional Organizer
9:00-9:09 “We were told it was not coming down, not ‘we don’t want to’ like blatantly, ‘it’s not going anywhere. You might as well get over it.’”
But that’s not the story of another Confederate monument. In Winston-Salem, a similar-looking statue was erected by the United Daughters of the Confederacy OR UDC. in 1905. Through the decades, it stood as the city grew larger and larger, eventually placing it in the heart of the city’s downtown.
Allen Joines, Mayor, City of Winston-Salem
0:49-1:02 “This is painful for many of our citizens.”
Allen Joines has been the mayor of Winston-Salem since 2001.
Allen Joines, Mayor, City of Winston-Salem
3:15 “Having that symbol there, hitting your right in the face if you’re downtown every day, to me, it’s just untenable.”
Joines says he committed to taking the statue down and had a secret weapon to do it despite the Monument Protection Act.
Allen Joines, Mayor, City of Winston-Salem
2:08-2:12 “We were fortunate in that it turned out this statue is on private property.”
After months of legal debate between the city and UDC, the city took down the statue in 2019. The move sparked a lawsuit from the UDC, but in 2022, the North Carolina Supreme Court ruled against the group. This year, the city reached a settlement with UDC. Joines says the statue will join other Confederate monuments in Valor Memorial Park, located in a rural area of Davidson County.
6:51-6:54 “Sometimes when you’re doing the right thing, you just do it.”
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The United Daughters of the Confederacy didn’t respond to our request for an interview. Pinnix didn’t specify what her group’s next steps are for taking down Graham’s Confederate statue, but she said the fight isn’t over. In Winston-Salem, I’m Kelly Kendall
