Center for American Progress

I Went to the University of Virginia. We Don’t Need Statues to Remember our History
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I Went to the University of Virginia. We Don’t Need Statues to Remember our History

A graduate of the University of Virginia, Daniella Gibbs Léger explains why the removal of Confederate statues from public spaces is both long overdue and critical to American progress.

I remember the day I saw the plaque. I was walking back to my dorm late one night during my second year at the University of Virginia in Charlottesville. Slightly hidden among the pathway was a sign that indicated I was standing on a slave cemetery. I turned to my friends and said “Oh my God, y’all. We are sleeping on the bodies of slaves.”

The above excerpt was originally published in Glamour. Click here to view the full article.

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Authors

Daniella Gibbs Léger

Executive Vice President, Communications and Strategy

@dgibber123