In a continuing controversy surrounding Stone Mountain Park's planned exhibit on slavery, segregation, and white supremacy, the Georgia Division of the Sons of Confederate Veterans has followed through with its threat of legal action. This Confederacy group filed a lawsuit against the park, claiming the officials have ignored state laws in their efforts to tell a truth that includes more than just Southern valor. The contested site hosts a massive carving of Confederate figures Jefferson Davis, Robert E. Lee, and Thomas "Stonewall" Jackson.
According to a report by FOX 5 Atlanta, the group believes the Stone Mountain Memorial Association's decision to both relocate Confederate flags and create the new exhibit is not just a legal breach, but an encroachment upon heritage. "When they come after the history and attempt to change everything to the present political structure, that’s against the law," stated Martin O’Toole, spokesperson for the chapter. Their stance is that the carvings honor the soldiers of the Confederacy, yet the park, an association responsible for the decision, aims to delve deeper into the historical context that includes the site's association with the resurgence of the Ku Klux Klan in 1915 and its segregationist roots.
Stone Mountain Park, popular for hiking and framed as a family theme park, carries the weight of this Confederate symbolism within a city known for its strides in civil rights. The new exhibit, which has not yet opened, is set to bring forward narratives that have often been overshadowed by the monumentality of the "Lost Cause" narrative. The exhibit is intended to include stories of the local Black community living near the mountain post-Civil War, addressing the ideologies perpetuated by organizations like the United Daughters of the Confederacy and the Sons of Confederate Veterans, as per AP News.
Funding for this new historical narrative comes as part of an $11 million allocation from Georgia's General Assembly, earmarked for the exhibit and renovations to the park's Memorial Hall. Additionally, a shift in the park's branding reflects the changing conversation; the board has elected to replace the park logo, which once bore the Confederate carving, for an image of a lake within the park. Despite the anticipated legal challenges, the park aims to construct a more inclusive historical account, which according to the exhibit proposal, "will explore how the collective memory created by Southerners in response to the real and imagined threats to the very foundation of Southern society, the institution of slavery, by westward expansion, a destructive war, and eventual military defeat, was fertile ground for the development of the 'Lost Cause' movement amidst the social and economic disruptions that followed," as per Fox 5 Atlanta.
