Robert E. Lee (Valentine)
Robert E. Lee is a bronze sculpture commemorating the general of the same name by Edward Virginius Valentine, installed in the crypt of the United States Capitol as part of the National Statuary Hall Collection. The statue was gifted by the commonwealth of Virginia in 1909.Replacement
On January 2, 2020, Virginia governor Ralph Northam requested a bill to remove the statue from the U.S. Capitol building. The idea came from Reps. Jennifer Wexton and Donald McEachin. "These statutes aimed to rewrite Lee’s reputation from that of a cruel slave owner and Confederate General to portraying him as a kind man and reluctant war hero who selflessly served his home state of Virginia," Wexton and McEachin wrote in a letter to Northam. A statue of educator and orator Booker T. Washington or civil rights attorney Oliver Hill could replace the Lee statue.
