Legislators call for monument honoring African American Confederate soldiers

Upstate representatives Bill Chumley of Woodruff and Mike Burns of Travelers Rest want to honor African Americans who fought on the side of the Confederacy during the Civil War by erecting a special monument on State House grounds, according to a story by WSPA 7News. But Furman History professor Steve O’Neill questions the motivation and timing of such a move. O’Neill, who argues very few African Americans fought for the Confederacy, said, “I think it’s a bad idea to try and memorialize something that in reality was not a major part of the past …”