Nathan Bedford Forrest, a Confederate general notorious for heading the Ku Klux Klan, was one of Tennessee’s most infamous figures. Nonetheless, because to lawmakers’ desires to honor him by placing his bust in the Tennessee Capitol, the state has erected his monument on the grounds of the capitol. Now, though, lawmakers have voted 5-2 to remove Forrest’s bust per the decision of the seven-member State Building Commission. During the Civil War, he served as a Confederate cavalry commander and accumulated a fortune by using African Americans as slaves on his plantation and also providing them with food so that they could work for him.
Starting as a general in the Confederate military, Forrest also became head of the KKK. As many people know, this is a terrorist hate organization that not only terrorizes Blacks but Jews and other minority groups as well. On Thursday, it was voted by members of the State Building Commission of Tennessee to remove Forrest’s bust from Capitol Hill buildings as well as two other busts of Tennessee military leaders; though they will not be destroyed and relocated to the state museum instead. There, they will remain a part of Tennessee’s history.
Following the Civil War, Forrest became the leader of the KKK and oversaw the group’s terrorist activities as well as its efforts to reverse Reconstruction in the American South. Forrest not only fought to restore white supremacy in Tennessee after Tennessee’s devastating defeat during the Civil War, but he also ordered 300 Black Union soldiers slain after they surrendered following a fight.
The bust of Confederate general Nathan Bedford Forrest was erected at the Tennessee State Capitol in 1978, and controversy has surrounded it ever since. Many people have opposed the state for honoring a KKK leader and mass murderer of blacks.
After George Floyd’s murder was televised across the nation, public perception of Forrest statue changed rapidly. In response, Tennessee Governor Bill Lee decided that existing Confederate statues should be removed and pushed lawmakers to make this happen. Among these objects of distress in Tennessee was Forrest’s bust.
In 2018, Governor lee argued: “The Ku Klux Klan is a part of our history that we’re not proud of in Tennessee, and we need to be reminded of that and make certain that we don’t forget it. So I wouldn’t advocate removing the bust of Forrest.”
Lee defended keeping the Confederate memorials in 2018, as reported by The Tennessea.
“I’ve said oftentimes I think the removal of monuments is not the best approach to resolving the challenges that are presented with that conversation,” Lee said to The Tennessean. “Wiping out history wipes out, also, the history that we’re not proud of.”
Black lawmakers from Tennessee have spoken out about how difficult it is to see Forrest’s bust displayed in the state Capitol, given his history of hate and terrorism. Sen. Raumesh Akbari, a Black lawmaker from Memphis who serves as the Senate’s Democratic caucus chairwoman, said she was “appalled” by the bust when she first saw it upon being elected to office.
“Much like this bust symbolizes the pain and suffering of slavery and terror, removing the likeness of Nathan Bedford Forrest from a place of honor in Tennessee’s Capitol is a symbol for much-needed reconciliation,” Senator Akbari stated.
