Members of the Danville’s Southern Christian Leadership Conference gathered at the Danville Museum of Fine Arts & History on Friday to commemorate the end of Virginia’s Confederate History Month.
The museum is housed in the Confederacy’s last capitol.
Two young children, Darrius Mercer and Ishmael Muhammed, read passages from the “Cornerstone Speech,” which Confederate Vice President Alexander H. Stephens gave in Savannah, Ga., on March 21, 1861.
In the speech, Stephens says the Confederacy’s cornerstone “rests upon the great truth that the Negro is not equal to the white man.”
“We’re here today to read these excerpts to set the record straight about the Confederacy,” said the Rev. Avon Keen, president of Virginia’s and Danville’s chapter of the SCLU. “We want to have history in its proper context.”
Keen said the Confederacy’s history is not being remembered in its full context. He referenced Gov. Bob McDonnell’s proclamation, which declared April Confederate History Month in Virginia. In the first proclamation, McDonnell didn’t mention slavery.
The governor apologized and rewrote the proclamation, including “the institution of slavery led to this war and was an evil and inhumane practice,” according to McDonnell’s website.
“We always try to accept apologies,” Keen said. “If we would have more in-depth education, people would have a better understanding of the Confederacy. That’s what our concern is, it’s one-sided.”
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