Stone Mountain's massive monument featuring Confederate leaders has long sparked controversy. Its filled with Civil War artifacts, narrative panels and a gallery of photos to honor the rank and file soldiers. Derryn Moten, professor and chair of the Department of History and Political Science at Alabama State University, said Confederate memorials give a distorted view of history. The money is an annual appropriation from a 1-mill tax initially pledged to support a home for disabled and indigent Confederate soldiers and their wives that operated on the same site until the 1930s. Gundlach said they decided on Confederate veterans and their wives. Confederate Memorial Park is an Alabama State Park located in Mountain Creek, in rural Chilton County, Alabama, United States. Its an affront. Users of this site, do so with the understanding that said use does not constitute Since 2013, the church has been listed on the National Register of Historic Places and was recently added to the U.S. Civil Rights Trail. It is 9 miles south of Exit 205 and 13 miles north of Exit 186. Through an extensive investigation into public funding for Confederate memorials, Smithsonian Magazine and the Investigative Fund at the Nation Institute found that taxpayers have directed at least $40 million to Confederate statues, homes, parks, museums, libraries, and cemeteries, as well as to Confederate heritage organizations, over the past Additionally, CMP rents Marbury Methodist Church for weddings and similar occasions. I would never support that, Godwin told the Alabama News Network. [1] Contents 253 State Parks and Historic Preservation. The bill failed, but Sen. Clyde Chambliss Jr., its Republican sponsor, told the Montgomery Advertiserthat he planned to reintroduce the legislation during a planned special session. The only hope to save its economic position, the exhibit quotes a former state governor as saying, was for it to secede from the union, and though not mentioned directly, maintain the bondage of hundreds of thousands of Black Americans. The public funding of Confederate iconography is also troubling because of its deployment by white nationalists, who have rallied to support monuments in New Orleans, Richmond and Memphis. The group is still working to remove the statue. or create an attorney client relationship. No one has seriously challenged the continued use of the money for a memorial to the "Lost Cause," in part because few realize it exists; one long-serving black legislator who thought the tax had been done away with said he wants to eliminate state funding for the park. Today, the tax that goes to the park is a sliver of a 6.5-mill state property tax. The last Confederate veteran died at a home for aging soldiers in 1934, leaving seven widows as residents. And anybody, I believe, who argues to the contrary is just being academically dishonest., Moten points to an 1861 speech by Confederate Vice President Alexander H. Stephens in which Stephens said the cornerstone of the new government rested upon the great truth that the negro is not equal to the white man; that slavery subordination to the superior race is his natural and normal condition., Theres no gray here, Moten said. It is hard times, hard choices in Alabama, where legislators have been forced like in many other states to slash funding for their state parks and historical monuments because of priorities, etc. It's unclear how that would work with the current law. The exhibits Burroughs crafted tell the stories of people in Alabamas Black Belt who worked in the shadows to make the civil rights movement successful. Will Dismukes, R-Prattville, over his "public support of the lost Confederate cause," the party said in a press release Friday. The park now receives 1 percent of that original tax. with any legal issue or question, is to contact and retain the services and counsel That 1mill provided for pensions for veterans and the construction of a home for indigent veterans in rural Chilton County. By Users of this site agree by using this site, they release Confederate Memorial Park would still have received an amount estimated at about $120,000. Step onto the peaceful grounds of Confederate Memorial State Historic Site and experience where the last voices of the "Lost Cause" lingered. The museum consists of two shotgun houses, one of which is where King sought refuge from the Ku Klux Klan in 1968, just two weeks before he was murdered in Memphis. The story of Selma is a story of courageousness to rise up against unfair forces no matter how powerful they are, Dawson said. The Montgomery Advertiser reported that the bill would also establish a process for Confederate memorials and statues that have been removed from public property in Alabama to be moved to the park and displayed. Confederate Memorial Park is funded, in part, by a property tax that was once used to support Confederate veterans and their wives. 437 County Road 63, Marbury, Alabama 36051, Media Contact: Kathryn Shoupe, 334-230-2678, kathryn.shoupe@ahc.alabama.gov, Forts, Battlefields & Archaeological Sites, Alabama Historic Rehabilitation Tax Credit Program, Documenting the Civil Rights Movement in Montgomery, Pond Spring, the General Joe Wheeler Home, Students, Seniors, Retired Military, Child without parent (6-18 years), Active or Reserve Military, Child under 6 years, $2 per person. At least 81,000 Alabamians served in the Confederate army, and at least 20,000, possibly as many as 30,000, lost their lives, according to the museums accounts. whatsoever on this site, is given, either express or implied. Dorothy Walker, a longtime employee of the Alabama Historical Commission and director of the Freedom Rides Museum in Montgomery, stands by the work that the commission has done over the years. The Alabama Historical Commission stood up to save it, Walker said. If you purchase a product or register for an account through one of the links on our site, we may receive compensation. That 1mill provided for pensions for veterans and the construction of a home for indigent veterans in rural Chilton County. Why dont they? confederate memorial park funding. It contains quite a few of these segregationist and racist policies that we are just now beginning to get rid of.. Olive and Broadway Cemeteries operated from 1881 to 1958. This article was published more than1 year ago, MOUNTAIN CREEK, Ala. Down a country road, past a collection of ramshackle mobile homes, sits a 102-acre "shrine to the honor of Alabama's citizens of the Confederacy.". The site also houses the historic Mountain Creek Post Office, built around 1900, and the Marbury Methodist Church, built around 1885 (both of which were moved to the park from their original locations); and a Confederate Reference Library, opened in August 2008. Your email address will not be published. . But with limited funding, its hard for the museum to make the history of those invisible people known today. 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Singleton, a Greensboro Democrat and African American, did not respond to requests for comment. Spread over 102 acres of rolling wooded countryside near the center of the state, the park incorporates the site of Alabama's only Confederate veterans' home. The issue I have with the Confederacy and the Lost Cause is that people arent truthful, Moten said. Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window), Click to share on Twitter (Opens in new window), Click to email a link to a friend (Opens in new window), No public objections to rezoning requests, Digging up history: Clanton resident collects soda bottles from another era, Peterson looking to positively impact students. Jones said theres a clear justification for why the organization uses the library to promote its interpretation of the Civil Wars cause. I am not reproducing the entire article. This is about, I believe, demonstrating to a certain demographic who is in charge. Manage Volunteer Settings. Buy newspaper front pages, posters and more. View all AHC Owned Forts, Battlefields & Archaeological Sites. Park admission is free. and It funded pensions as well as a home for aging soldiers in Chilton County., which closed in 1939. confederate memorial park funding. Mahfuz riad. to all visitors to the site. Still, it is replete with Confederate imagery. Other legislators wanted to redistribute that money elsewhere. Flag Display at Confederate Memorial Park MuseumIn 1964, Confederate Memorial Park was established in Chilton County on the site of the state-run Confederate Soldiers' Home, which operated from 1902 to 1939 as the state's only care facility and residence for aging veterans of the Confederate Army, their wives, and widows. ST. LOUIS Mayor Lyda Krewson said Friday that she expected the planned removal of the Confederate Memorial from Forest Park to be funded at least partly with public money. It was about locking in their power and locking in the authority of the legislature. OH HEY, that is a better question. Our heritage and our way of life must be defended.. Senators Clyde Chambliss and Bobby Singleton will sponsor a bill this year that would preserve the funding for the park, but require the state to spend an equal one per cent on Black history sites. It even received the Houses annual Shroud Award, a designation presented in a comical way to signify the deadest bill of the session. Exhibits depict the hardships the war brought to white southerners, including the plight of soldiers who returned to their families with crippling injuries. The park is home to the site of the original facility and other historic . Jones concedes that the preservation of slavery was a reason for the southern states to secede. In 2017, Alabama lawmakers passed and Gov. Step onto the peaceful grounds of Confederate Memorial State Historic Site and experience where the last voices of the Lost Cause lingered. Priscilla Hancock Cooper, director of the Alabama African American Civil Rights Heritage Sites Consortium, which works with a number of sites across the state including the Safe House museum in Greensboro and Tabernacle Baptist Church, said Dawsons experience isnt unusual. Confederate Memorial Monument, also known as the "Monument to Confederate Soldiers and Sailors", on the grounds of the Alabama State Capitol, Montgomery, Alabama. Park Information. Carol Gundlach, a policy analyst at Alabama Arise, a statewide advocacy organization, said that lawmakers in 1901 were looking for a way to introduce new taxes in the conservative state and needed a sympathetic group to attach the tax increase to. And people need to own up to this.. Its centerpiece is Alabama's only state home for Confederate soldiers. Alabama lawmakers have also introduced bills for the 2022 legislative session that seek to ban the teaching of divisive concepts that might make students uncomfortable because of their race or gender. On this Wikipedia the language links are at the top of the page across from the article title. Confederate Memorial Park is located in Chilton County, east of I-65 off Hwy 31, 11 miles below Clanton. Call the historic site at 660-584-2854. Maybe three times [is the] charm.. It's also the former site of two cemeteries. The $69 million cost will not be coming out of taxpayers' pockets, for the most part. 865. Kay Ivey signed into law the Memorial Preservation Act, which makes it illegal to remove monuments that date back 40 years or more, effectively protecting Confederate statues statewide. Confederate Memorial Park's visitors' center and museum has resumed normal operating hours at reduced capacity. The veterans home closed in 1939. Lauren Lewis For Mailonline "Thanks to generous donors, the National Park Service will ensure the Lincoln Memorial . Confederate Memorial Park was originally the site of the state home for Confederate soldiers who had become disabled or indigent. "But who will think of the racists?" If seated, a Cherokee delegate could make a big difference in Congress. Former CSA President Jefferson Davis laid the cornerstone in 1886, but it was not completed until 1898. Not only is the Confederate Memorial Park a part of our heritage as Alabamians, it is a tourist attraction for families traveling throughout the state, Ward said. Good point, Alabamawill keep exactly one state park in pristine condition, the one that is dedicated to remembering America's original 9/11, the loss of the Confederacy. A narrative panel says that four million slaves lived in the south in 1860 and says that southern leaders warned that emancipation would mean certain economic ruin and probable social chaos. Before the pandemic, Verdell Lett Dawson, a member of Tabernacle Baptist Church in Selma, said that she and other members of the congregation had been working to draw tourists to their church. [1], In 1964, during the Civil War Centennial, the Alabama State Legislature established Confederate Memorial Park, encompassing the original 102-acre site of the home, as "a shrine to the honor of Alabama's citizens of the Confederacy." Some places in Alabama and across the South have removed Confederate monuments in the last year, after the killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis brought nationwide protests against racial injustice. [4] The home's cemetery rosters, insurance papers, and superintendent reports are available at the Alabama Dept. Founder's Memorial Park was once two cemeteries. So while other museums struggle to keep their doors open, search for grants for funding and depend on volunteer staff, the Confederate Memorial Park is flush with cash. 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