Status Quo Framework. Explore definitions here.
Introduction
Stone Mountain is a natural formation made out of quartz monzonite located 16 miles east of Atlanta, Georgia. It is elliptical in shape and trends in a northwest-southeast direction with its steepest side facing north. The city of Stone Mountain, Georgia, is located just outside the theme park surrounding the monument. The elevation at the summit is almost 1,700 feet above sea level and 825 feet above the surrounding area. Stone Mountain is famous not only for its geology, but also for the large artistic carving on its north face, which is the world’s largest bas-relief artwork. The carving depicts three Confederate leaders, Jefferson Davis, Robert E. Lee, and Stonewall Jackson. Stone Mountain was completed in 1972, immediately making it the largest Confederate Monument in the nation. There are strong beliefs, both in the state of Georgia and nationwide, regarding what the future of Stone Mountain should hold.
Section 1: Background
The completion of Stone Mountain extended over several decades. The project started in 1914, well after each of the portrayed Confederate soldiers had died. The project was commenced by an American sculptor named Gutzon Borglum, the son of Danish immigrants who resided in Connecticut. Most of Borglum’s early work was in London painting portraits for upper class citizens. Borglum then moved back to the United States and developed an early career in politics, becoming a very active campaign organizer and member of the Bull Moose Party during the 1912 United States presidential election. His political ties and his close friendship with President Theodore Roosevelt allowed him to secure large contracts for public monument pieces. Some of his work included the six-ton head of Abraham Lincoln, a statue of William James Bryan, and a large monument to Civil War General Philip Sheridan on a bronze horse. All of these pieces resided in Washington, D.C.
When a Confederate widow in Atlanta, Georgia, requested his services on a massive sculpture of Robert E. Lee, Borglum traveled south and continued his public monument work. The sculpture is in the form of a bas-relief. Artists create a bas-relief by sculpting onto a 2D plane to create and accentuate figures and objects, producing a 3D appearance which can be viewed from all angles with little distortion. To advance the Stone Mountain sculpture project and gather donations, Borglum joined the Ku Klux Klan. With his fellow Klansmen, Borglum stole a large portion of the project’s funds, causing it to move at a glacial pace. By the time he was terminated for his lack of productivity, only the head of Robert E. Lee was carved on the mountain. The Stone Mountain Confederate Memorial Association hired another sculptor by the name of Henry Augustus Lukeman who worked on the mountain from 1925 to 1928.
However, the Stone Mountain project continued very slowly. The project was not revitalized until the early 1950s following the Brown v. Board of Education decision. Eugene Talmadge, the newly elected Governor of Georgia, had run a focused anti-integration campaign. One of the rallying points behind his campaign was to force the state to purchase the monument and the land around it. After decades of work, the monument wasn’t finished by Artist Walter Hancock until 1972.
1.1. Glorification of Lost Cause Ideology
Like many Confederate monuments, Stone Mountain perpetuates the Lost Cause Ideology. The Lost Cause Ideology is defined by Encyclopedia Virginia as an interpretation of the American Civil War (1861–1865) that seeks to present the war, from the perspective of Confederates, in the best possible terms. Developed by white Southerners, many of them former Confederate generals, in a postwar climate of economic, racial, and social uncertainty, the Lost Cause created and romanticized the ‘Old South’ and the Confederate war effort, often distorting history in the process. For this reason, most historians have labeled the Lost Cause a myth or a legend (Janney 2022).
This ideology focuses largely on the concept of opposing ideals between the North and the South when it comes to governance. Supporters of the Lost Cause contend that the most significant point of division was around economic and political concepts rather than slavery, making the Civil War appear more about states’ rights than white supremacy. In James M. McPherson’s (2000) What Caused the Civil War, he states:
The South, [Jefferson] Davis insisted, fought solely for ‘the inalienable right of a people to change their government … to withdraw from a Union into which they had, as sovereign communities, voluntarily entered.’ The ‘existence of African servitude,’ he maintained, ‘was in no way the cause of the conflict, but only an incident.’ Likewise Stephens declared that ‘the War had its origin in opposing principles’ not concerning slavery but rather concerning ‘the organic Structure of the Government of the States…. It was a strife between the principles of Federation, on the one side, and Centralism, or Consolidation, on the other…. Slavery, so called, was but the question on which these antagonistic principles … were finally brought into … collision with each other on the field of battle.’
The Stone Mountain Confederate Memorial embodies the Lost Cause ideology. The monument is the largest Confederate memorial in the country, though no Civil War battles were fought at the park’s location. Stone Mountain and monuments like it actively distort history and honor those who fought in the Civil War, defended slavery, and attempted secession from the United States. The monuments serve as a reminder of America’s history of institutionalized racism, yet they continue to be seen in a positive light by many Americans today.
The governing body of Stone Mountain and its surrounding park is the Stone Mountain Memorial Association (SMMA). The stated mission of the SMMA is “to sustain, enhance, and protect Stone Mountain Park and to provide enriching historical, natural, cultural, and recreational experiences for all who visit” (SMMA n.d.). Under Georgia law, they are required to do whatever is “appropriate and suitable” to maintain Stone Mountain as a Confederate monument for the state (“Stone Mountain Memorial Act,” O.C.G.A. § 12-3-190, et seq.). This mandate has allowed the park to remain as a beacon of Lost Cause ideals through more subtle elements, such as the area’s exhibits and hiking trails. Many local organizations are in direct opposition to this portrayal of the Civil War and the Confederate South.
One organization, the Stone Mountain Action Coalition (SMAC), is adamant about changes being made to the monument due to its racist and misleading symbolism as well as the stories the park neglects to tell. During an interview with World Heritage USA, SMAC representative Sally Stanhope stated that the Stone Mountain Memorial Association needs to take accountability and tell the public about many stories, such as the unpaid prison labor that built and maintained the park into the 1990s. The SMAC has exclusive access to records that shed light on some of the park’s previously hidden history. In addition, the Stone Mountain Memorial Association needs to speak about the Native American Muskogee Tribe who resided in the area of Stone Mountain as well as the illegitimate treaties that drove them from their land.
By failing to fully acknowledge the history associated with a monument such as the Stone Mountain Memorial, elements of this history are open to interpretation in a way that ignores certain facts. The Lost Cause ideology is to blame for this, and this monument perpetuates it to this day.
1.2. An Unfortunate Resurgence
The Stone Mountain Confederate Memorial was also a crucial fixture in the resurgence of the Ku Klux Klan (KKK) and the erection of Confederate monuments nationwide. As previously mentioned, Confederate ideals were still present during the commencement of the memorial’s carving in 1914, but the passion of decades prior had begun to wane. When Borglum decided to include donations from the KKK (he would later switch back to being liberal supporter for monetary gain), he opened the floodgates for Klansmen involvement for years to come. After a period of aggressive federal intervention during Reconstruction, the original Klan, founded in 1865, had been largely stamped out by the mid-1870s. However, Former Methodist preacher William J. Simmons launched a campaign to reestablish the group in 1915.
This reestablishment was also fueled by the creation of a film by director D.W. Griffith. The Birth of a Nation was released in 1915 and depicted scenes of the Civil War beyond the battlefield. The themes of the film show the Ku Klux Klan as heroes of the Reconstruction era and protectors of Southern white women. The success and widespread distribution of The Birth of a Nation heightened national interest in the post-Civil War Klan.
With the help of the infamous film, The Birth of a Nation, released within a year of the memorial’s commencement, the KKK was restarted at Stone Mountain Park. At its height, the resurgence of the Ku Klux Klan had more than five million members nationwide. From there, the monument became a hub for vitriol and hate on behalf of the KKK. The Atlanta History Center (2022), a history museum and research center located in the Buckhead, Georgia, states:
Days before [The Birth of a Nation] premiered in Atlanta, Simmons led a group of 15 men in robes and hoods up the side of Stone Mountain, set fire to a cross, and symbolically resurrected the KKK. Later, during the opening night of the film’s premiere in Atlanta, Simmons and his fellow Klansmen wore white sheets and Confederate uniforms as they rode hooded horses down Peachtree Street and fired rifle salutes in front of the theater.
The KKK’s connection to Stone Mountain continued over the following decades as the site for Klan rallies, membership initiations, and the organization’s ‘Imperial Palace.’ By 1924, the Klan had expanded far beyond its Southern base with ‘Klaverns’ (branches of the KKK) in almost every Northern state and a reported national membership of six million.
The new iteration of the KKK mainly targeted Black Americans, but was not above harassing and assaulting Jewish people, Catholics, and immigrants. This behavior has not ceased to this day. As names and flags of the Confederacy began to come down in 2015, the Ku Klux Klan, with the support of various pro-Confederate groups, planned a protest rally in Stone Mountain Park in mid-November. It was set to be at the proposed site of a “Freedom Bell” dedicated to the late Martin Luther King Jr. The protest was never carried out, but the attention and support it garnered speaks to the significance of Stone Mountain for racist organizations.
Section 2: Framework – Status Quo
At the time of writing, the status of the monument in the Monuments Toolkit Team framework is status quo. Status quo is defined as “The act of inaction. Allowing the monument to exist without any type of intervention.” The Stone Mountain Memorial Association is responsible for this status, though it has shown willingness to work toward some amount of reinterpretation. The Monuments Toolkit Team defines reinterpretation as “the act of transforming the significance of the monument. The original monument may or may not be located in its original location.”
At monthly SMMA board meetings, the opportunity for public comment has led to an ongoing conversation regarding interpretation and Confederate history at Stone Mountain Memorial Park. At the August 24, 2020, board meeting, the Stone Mountain Action Coalition (SMAC) presented the argument that some features of the Park are painful for visitors and there is potential for the space to be “transformed into a place of healing, reconciliation, and affirmation” (SMMA 2020b). Since the summer of 2020, the public comment portion of SMMA board meetings has also frequently included individuals defending the monument as is and advocating for no change to the Park.
On May 24, 2021, the SMMA passed several resolutions. Resolution #1 gave permission to have a museum exhibit at the Park’s Memorial Hall that tells “the whole complicated story of the Carving and Confederate monuments in the Park” (SMMA 2021). It also created an advisory committee who will ensure the exhibit is accurate. Resolution #2 relocated the Flag Terrace, a collection of Confederate flags, from the walk-up trail leading to the carving to a space at the base of the Carving. Resolution #3 authorized SMMA to change the logo of the Park from the Carving to another image (ibid.). Rev. Abraham Mosley, Chairman of the Stone Mountain Memorial Association, said of the meeting: “We’re not going to solve the problem overnight. But little pieces at a time. We’ve just taken our first step today to where we need to go” (Moffatt 2021a). Rev. Mosley has also stated, “We want to tell the whole story. The good, the bad and the ugly” (Moffatt 2021b). Stone Mountain CEO Bill Stephens generally supports changes as well as the controversy affects business at hotels on the Park property, stating, “we don’t get corporate business here – because of the Confederacy issue – that we used to get. If those companies come back to this park, that’s a positive” (Moffatt 2021a).
Whether motivated by money or justice, the SMMA has begun taking steps toward creating a more inclusive Stone Mountain Memorial Park. However, progress has been slow. At the May 23, 2022, board meeting, SMAC representative Brian Morris criticized how little movement had been made to date (SMMA 2022). At the May 7, 2024, board meeting, members of the public reminded the board that the community is still awaiting changes and reiterated that there is strong popular support for completely removing the Confederate flags and street names from the Park (SMMA 2024).
There is a significant effort for reinterpretation of the Stone Mountain Confederate Memorial led by various stakeholders. There is currently no violence or overt public tension surrounding this monument, deeming the site safe for visitors. However, the dangerous and difficult history of this monument will not allow it to stay this way.
In an attempt to alter the memorial to be more inclusive, organizations like the Stone Mountain Action Coalition and the Atlanta History Center are calling for a reinterpretation of the carving throughout the surrounding park. There are more than 10 Stone Mountain Park streets and features named after Confederate and Ku Klux Klan figures, and many people believe amendments like these are a step in the right direction towards change. When speaking on next steps for the monument, president and CEO of the Atlanta History Center, Sheffield Hale, stated:
The reality is that carving is not going to be blown off that mountain, but it can be reinterpreted in [the Stone Mountain Park] museum. The street names can be signed and they can be taken down. All that stuff can be wiped out and the law won’t be changed. The carving can still stay there and be contextualized. And then maybe in 20 years, people decide they don’t want the carving anymore. They can do something about it. But right now, things won’t change. Because people don’t understand the history (Ezeilo 2023).
The same can be said about many Confederate monuments, but this is especially true in the case of Stone Mountain.
House Bill 794 was first introduced to the Georgia State Legislature on March 20, 2023, by several Dekalb County representatives. The bill would amend Georgia code to repeal Stone Mountain Memorial Park’s Confederate mandate, which requires that the SMMA “maintain an appropriate and suitable memorial to the Confederacy” (“Stone Mountain Memorial Act,” O.C.G.A. § 12-3-190, et seq.). In a statement of support for the Bill, the Southern Poverty Law Center stated that House Bill 794 would “repeal a law from 1958 that requires Stone Mountain to honor traitors and allow Stone Mountain to become a park for outdoor recreation that all Georgians can be proud of” (Otero 2024). The bill was stalled in March 2024, but the effort stands as an important move toward changes at Stone Mountain Memorial Park.
References
Atlanta History Center. 2022. “The Connection between the United Daughters of the Confederacy and the KKK.” December 9, 2022. https://www.atlantahistorycenter.com/blog/the-connection-between-the-united-daughters-of-the-conf ederacy-and-the-kkk/.
Boissoneault, Lorraine. 2017. “What Will Happen to Stone Mountain, America’s Largest Confederate Memorial?” Smithsonian Magazine. August 22, 2017. https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/what-will-happen-stone-mountain-americas-largest-confederate-memorial-180964588/
Burress, Jim. 2024. “Advocates again push for repeal of law protecting Stone Mountain’s status as Confederate memorial.” WABE NPR News. February 16, 2024. https://www.wabe.org/advocates-again-push-for-repeal-of-law-protecting-stone-mountains-status-as-confederate-memorial/.
Environmental Protection Division. n.d. “Protecting and Restoring Georgia’s Environment.” Accessed July 2023. https://epd.georgia.gov/.
Henderson, Harold. 2019. “Eugene Talmadge.” New Georgia Encyclopedia. September 9, 2019.
https://www.georgiaencyclopedia.org/articles/government-politics/eugene-talmadge-1884-1946/.
Janney, Caroline E. 2022. “The Lost Cause.” Encyclopedia Virginia. February 24, 2022. https://encyclopediavirginia.org/entries/lost-cause-the/.
McKinney, Debra. 1970. “Stone Mountain: A Monumental Dilemma.” Southern Poverty Law Center. January 1, 1970. https://www.splcenter.org/fighting-hate/intelligence-report/2018/stone-mountain-monumental-dilemma.
McPherson, James. 2000. “What Caused the Civil War?.” North & South: The Official Magazine of the Civil War Society vol. 4, no. 1 (January 2000): 12-22.
Moffatt, Emil. 2021a. “Stone Mountain board approves limited changes to park’s Confederate imagery” WABE NPR News. May 24, 2021. https://www.wabe.org/stone-mountain-board-approves-limited-changes-to-parks-confederate-imagery/.
— 2021b. “Confederate Imagery On Stone Mountain Is Changing, but not fast enough for some.” WABE NPR News. June 21, 2021. https://www.npr.org/2021/06/21/1007924006/confederate-imagery-on-stone-mountain-is-changing-but-not-fast-enough-for-some.
Morlin, Bill. 2015. “KKK Plans Rally at Stone Mountain, Georgia Park Considered for MLK Memorial.” Southern Poverty Law Center. October 22, 2015.
Otero, Isabel. 2021. “Letter in support of Georgia House Bill 794.” Southern Poverty Law Center. February 12, 2024. https://www.splcactionfund.org/sites/default/files/letter-support-for-georgia-HB-794.pdf.
Phillips, Jay. 2024. “Fight to Remove Confederate Image from Stone Mountain Continues.” The Champion. February 26, 2024. https://thechampionnewspaper.com/fight-to-remove-confederate-image-from-stone-mountain-continues/.
Pigmentti. 2018. “Bas-Relief Sculpture: What Is It and How Can It Be Used in Modern-Day Interior Design?” Blog Post. November 15, 2018. https://www.pigmentti.com/blog/bas-relief-sculpture.
ProCon. 2024. “Historical Statue Removal.” Encyclopedia Britannica. November 5, 2024. https://www.britannica.com/procon/historical-statue-removal-debate.
Stone Mountain Action Coalition. n.d. “History & Context.” Accessed July 2023. https://stonemountainaction.org/history-context.
—n.d. “Legal Analysis.” Accessed July 2023. https://stonemountainaction.org/legal.
Stone Mountain Memorial Association (SSMA). N.d. “History of SMMA.” Accessed December 5, 2024.https://stonemountainpark.org/about-us/history-of-smma/.
— N.d. “Mission and Vision Statement.” Accessed December 5, 2024. https://stonemountainpark.org/about-us/mission-and-vision/.
—2020a. Board and Committee Minutes. June 15, 2020. https://stonemountainpark.org/about-us/board-of-directors/meeting-minutes/.
—2020b. Board and Committee Minutes. August 24, 2020. https://stonemountainpark.org/about-us/board-of-directors/meeting-minutes/.
—2021. Board and Committee Minutes. May 24, 2021. https://stonemountainpark.org/about-us/board-of-directors/meeting-minutes/.
—2022. Board and Committee Minutes. May 23, 2022. https://stonemountainpark.org/about-us/board-of-directors/meeting-minutes/.
—2024. Board and Committee Minutes. May 7, 2024. https://stonemountainpark.org/about-us/board-of-directors/meeting-minutes/.
Stokes, Stephannie. 2018. “Stone Mountain and the Rebirth of the KKK, One Century Ago.” WABE NPR News. February 26, 2018. https://www.wabe.org/stone-mountain-and-rebirth-kkk-one-century-ago/.
World Heritage USA Interview with Stone Mountain Action Coalition. July 2023.
World Heritage USA Interview with Atlanta History Center. July 2023.
