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Early this morning, workers contracted by the City of New Orleans removed the Jefferson Davis Monument located on North Jefferson Davis Parkway and Canal Street. The Davis monument is the second of four confederate statue to be removed by the city.
Workers began lifting the monument around 5 a.m. Thursday morning. Throughout the construction process, authorities closed Jefferson Davis Parkway between Cleveland Avenue and Iberville Street and Canal Street between North Rendon and South Clark streets.
Commissioned by the Jefferson Davis Memorial Association, the Jefferson Davis statue was erected in 1911.
“Three weeks ago, we began a challenging but long overdue process of removing four statues that honor the ‘Lost Cause of the Confederacy.’ Today we continue the mission,” Mayor Mitch Landrieu said in an official statement.
“These monuments have stood not as historic or educational markers of our legacy of slavery and segregation, but in celebration of it. I believe we must remember all of our history, but we need not revere it,” he added.
Several police cars and barricades lined the vicinity of the statue. Directly across from Jefferson Davis Monument site, just off of Canal and North Jefferson Davis Parkway, is a monument honoring Confederate Lt. Colonel Charles Didier Dreux, Jr.
The City removed the first of the four monuments, The Battle of Liberty Place, on April 24, 2017. Anticipating rising security risk, the mayor’s office announced it would not notify the public about future statue removals ahead of time.
Now, all removed monuments will be housed in a private warehouse until a proper museum or site is found to display the statues in context.
Two years ago, Mayor Mitch Landrieu signed an ordinance that prompted the removal and relocation of four confederate statues. On March 8, 2017, The United States District Court of the Eastern District of Louisiana affirmed the City’s right to remove the statues.