Baltimore Eliminates More Confederate Monuments in Dead of Night, Renames Park for Slave Icon Harriet Tubman

The Associated Press
The Associated Press
Warner Todd Huston

Baltimore’s Democrat Mayor, Catherine Pugh, has once again eliminated Confederate history under cover of night, this time eliminating three Confederate monuments and renaming a park for hard-charging slavery icon Harriet Tubman.

On March 10, Baltimore sprang “Harriet Tubman Day” on the city after eliminating the statues to Confederate generals Robert E. Lee and Stonewall Jackson that sat for decades in Wyman Park Dell along with a memorial to Supreme Court Justice Roger B. Taney, the man who authored the famed “Dred Scott Decision” assuring that slaves stay designated as property and not citizens just prior to the Civil War, the Hill reported.

As part of the celebration, Mayor Pugh officially redesignated the section of the park where the statues once stood to be “Harriet Tubman Grove.”

Harriet Tubman had often been suggested as a perfect candidate to be included as the face on any particular U.S. paper currency, and most recently as a replacement for President Andrew Jackson on the $20 bill.

Tubman is a fascinating and inspiring character whose recognition is always a welcome addition to our civil society. Born into slavery, Tubman escaped and became one of the nation’s leading abolitionists and “Underground Railroad” affiliates helping slaves flee the south to a better life in the north and beyond.

“It helps bring the community values to important places and helps to weave together the community,” Baltimore Councilwoman Mary Pat Clarke said at Saturday’s ceremony. “This place is really interesting. Since the statues were removed, it has become a gathering place.”

The removal of the statues late on Friday and into Saturday is not the first time Mayor Pugh employed the dead of night as cover for her campaign to whitewash Baltimore’s Civil War history.

Last August the city quietly removed four Confederate statues sitting elsewhere in the city, an action taken without public knowledge or input.

“It’s done,” Pugh told the Baltimore Sun the day after the statues were torn down. “They needed to come down. My concern is for the safety and security of our people. We moved as quickly as we could.”

Follow Warner Todd Huston on Twitter @warnerthuston.

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