by Andrew England
For more than 80 years, the main entrance of the University of Texas campus was a sublime display of art, a utopia revered throughout the world. Surrounding the lawn, where nerds play ultimate frisbee and young lovers engage in PDA, were six colossal sculptures of influential southern statesmen.
One could learn from reading the pink granite pedestals that Robert E. Lee wasn’t only a Confederate General, but also superintendent of West Point and president of Washington College (renamed “Washington & Lee” in his honor). There was Albert Sidney Johnston, who served as a general for three countries: Republic of Texas, Confederate States, United States. And let’s not forget Woodrow Wilson, who was president of Princeton University and governor of New Jersey, before becoming the only commander-in-chief to have a PhD.
But now the lawn is bleak, empty, and desolate, with nothing left other than vacant pedestals to remind us that “sensitivity” can override basic academic rights.
I am proudly the direct descendant of a Confederate soldier. As Texans, we should not be ashamed of our heritage.
The Constitution of the Confederate States mentions slavery three times: The first was to prohibit the importation of slaves (this had been U.S. law since 1808). The “Peculiar Institution” was, sadly, still permitted among those already living in the United States, as it was in other agrarian societies.
But relocating artifacts to storage units will not change our history. It will, instead, reopen wounds of the past.
The Littlefield Memorial is not a tribute to slavery: It is about the transformation into an industrialized civilization that no longer required forced, unpaid labor to drive our economy. It shows us the transition from the antebellum “Old South” to the post-reconstruction “New South.”
This memorial is unique: It is both a Confederate and World War I exhibit. George W. Littlefield, the regent who funded the project, was a major in the Confederate Army. When the memorial was commissioned in 1919, the UT community wanted to also honor the Longhorns who died fighting in the World War.
Their names are listed on a plaque behind the fountain, which is of course named after Mr. Littlefield. That huge red Victorian mansion on campus was his house; the Littlefield dormitory is named after his wife, Alice.
No words can convey the importance of this man to our university. Without him, we would certainly not be the world-renowned institution we are today. It is truly shameful that only one of the six statues he paid for has been reinstalled on campus.
I am calling upon Texans everywhere to demand that President Jay Hartzell do the same with the remaining five.
Hopefully you all get a chance to check out the sculpture of Gov. James Hogg on the east side of the tower. Please do not fat-shame him. Seriously, pilates and cross-fit were not available in the 1890’s.
Just observe the remarkable attention to detail; think of the talent required to produce such a spectacular work of art.
Now, imagine the south entrance of campus restored to its original elegance, as it was from 1933 until 2015-2017. This dream can become reality – but only if you send an email to [email protected], asking the university to reinstall the statues of the Littlefield Memorial at their original location. That’s where they belong.
Andrew England is a spring 2020 graduate of the University of Texas at Austin and served as deputy director of Election Day operations for the Republican Party of Texas.
I most certainly agree that the removal of confederate statues at UT, or anywhere else for that matter, is a dirty rotten shame! So is the removal of statues of presidents like George Washington and Woodrow Wilson, and of others like Christopher Columbus. These historical beings were not monsters like Adolf Hitler, Joseph Stalin and Pol Pot.
But I do not share your love of UT, Mr. England. The university is infested with Marxist and other radical-left professors that have turned Austin into the Berkeley of Texas. Those professors are poisoning the minds of students and it is they that should be removed, not statues!
My oldest graduated from UT. He encouraged his brother to go to A&M though. Too many steers and queers.
He obtained two degrees from UT so we had commencements going all day for his graduation. The evening university ceremony was beautiful with all the flag bearers from each college. The guest speaker was a brand new to UT physics perfesser named Steven Weinberg. I knew who he was and was happy to hear what he had to say until he tore into the university, the students and especially us parents. I believe the president of the school was named Cunningham and he came out and escorted Weinberg off the stage and did his best to downplay the opinions of Mr. Weinberg.
That new president was very happy to remove those statues over the summer.
White boy does a Whitewash
Almost all of those statues were erected in the 1920s by the Daughters of the Confederacy. The Daughters also worked hard to rewrite school textbooks, removing lynching and making slavery look like Uber.
Every Declaration of Secession except Louisiana said that the sole reason was to PRESERVE SLAVERY.. When the La. rep came to lobby Texans to secede, he told us that slavery was the sole reason for Louisiana too.
It was all about slavery.
It’s over.
So F’n what? The folks the statues represent made a significant contribution to Texas. It was in part due to their hard work and success that allows you to come here and bellyache today. You are either just a garden variety racist, or worse, you’re a true believer Marxist, because that’s what all these attempts to destroy history are really all about…..cultural Marxism. Destroy the past. There is no past, there is only the party, only now.
If you aren’t an actual Marxist, why not read up on it and discover how you’ve become a useful idiot for the left.
Pro tip: The left doesn’t care about you. Are you a blm proponent? Note how the blm leadership cut off the money now that election season is over. So they got paid, you got nuthin’. Either way, take your racist BS somewhere else.