That's black history. That's American history. And today we celebrate that history by memorializing a true American hero. The Commonwealth of Virginia will now be properly represented by an actual patriot who embodied the principle of liberty and justice for all, And not a traitor who took up arms against the United States to preserve the brutal institution of chattel slavery. At the time of Robert E. Lee's Statue Unveiling in 1909, Representative Charles Curtis, a Kansas Republican who later on went to serve as Senate Majority leader and our nation's 31st Vice President, remarked, I think it is a disgrace. (03:59–04:30)
CLAIM
Asserts that Barbara Johns represents liberty and justice, unlike Robert E. Lee, who fought to preserve slavery.
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