Monday, December 30, 2013

Va Flaggers Museum of the Confederacy Update: New "Temporary" Name

For those of us who have been following the antics of Museum of the Confederacy President and CEO Waite Rawls since he assumed the reins at the museum, and have repeatedly called for his removal, the sell-out of the museum to the ultra PC "American Civil War Center at Tredegar" comes as no surprise.

In 2007, Rawls made it clear that he was willing to sacrifice even the name of the institution when he announced that along with a proposed move, the name "Confederacy" was likely to disappear from the museum's title...  http://www.civilwarnews.com/archive/articles/07/museumconfed.htm

"Museum President and CEO S. Waite Rawls III suggested that the name was negotiable. He told the Richmond Times-Dispatch, "The repositioning we've done over the past 30 years is to be more of a modern education institution and less of a memorial to the Confederacy."

Although the name change was delayed a few years, it appears as if he will finally get his wish to change the name...as well as the Museum's original intent... with the recent liquidation. 

From the Museum of the Confederacy's website:


"Civil War Holdings, Inc. is the temporary name of the joint partnership between the American Civil War Center and the Museum of the Confederacy. When the two institutions joined forces in the fall of 2013, a new Board of Directors was created, comprising members of both former boards."  Complete list here:  http://www.moc.org/about-us/board-trustees

Those of us in Richmond easily recognize the name of the Chairman of the new board, Dr. Edward L. Ayers, as one who has, as a close personal friend and associate of Mr. Rawls, been allowed unrestricted access and influence at the museum. 

In November of this year, Dr. Ayers was a featured speaker at the "Loving RVA" gathering in Richmond:




The main focus of this gathering was to introduce a plan to "revitalize RVA".  Details of the plan are available here...  http://lovingrva.com/index.html and include a "slavery and freedom heritage site" http://lovingrva.com/HeritageSite.html , but not surprisingly, NOT ONE MENTION of Richmond's rich Confederate history and heritage:

"The Revitalize RVA Plan includes a very important historical component. The Slavery and Freedom Heritage Site will be on the site of the Lumpkins Slave Jail, which is across the train trestle from the proposed commercial and residential development."

Ayers' public support of this project, which COMPLETELY EXCLUDES any reference to Confederate history and heritage in Richmond, is just ONE example of many, that leaves little doubt as to the direction of this "new museum", under the leadership of Dr. Ayers, Mr. Rawls, and Ms. Coleman.

**Catalog of the Confederate MEMORIAL Literary Society:  http://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=uva.x000889186;view=1up;seq=1  Each item collected and lovingly donated by Veterans and their families "In Memoriam Sempiternam". 

"In Memoriam Sempiternam"...or "In Eternal Memory"    God help us when we stand before these men and women one day and have to explain why WE, their sons and daughters, stood quietly by and let this happen.

LEST WE FORGET!

 








Grayson  Jennings
Va Flaggers

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