Photograph by Ed Pollard, Hasselblad H4D50 - 2019.

Memorial Day, Norfolk Light Infantry, Sons of Confederate Veterans Passing Old St. James and Savoy Hotels, Main Street, May 30, 1957

Artist Carroll H. Walker (American, 1904 - 1990)

CultureAmerican

Date1957

MediumGelatin silver print

DimensionsOverall, Image: 7 5/8 × 9 11/16 in. (19.4 × 24.6 cm)
Overall, Support: 8 × 9 7/8 in. (20.3 × 25.1 cm)

Credit LineGift of Carroll H. Walker

Object number67.40.141

Not on view

DescriptionPhotograph depicting a scene from Norfolk, VA.

Label TextMemorial Day, Norfolk Light Infantry, Sons of Confederate Veterans Passing Old St. James and Savoy Hotels, Main Street, May 30, 1957, 1957 Gift of Carroll H. Walker 67.40.141 Looking East from Bank of Commerce, Commercial Place and East Main Street, February 2, 1962, 1962 Gift of Carroll H. Walker 67.40.112 Excavating for Foundation, New Virginia National Bank Building, February 24, 19 65, 1965 Gift of Carroll H. Walker 67.40.170 When their Confederate Monument was unveiled in 1907, the Pickett-Buchanan Camp of Confederate Veterans celebrated it as “a suitable monument to the Lost Cause.” The 15-foot bronze sculpture of a Confederate soldier was created by Norfolk-born sculptor William Couper and it was placed atop a 50-foot pedestal. Most of the surrounding land was cleared for redevelopment in the early 1960s, but when builders began sinking pilings for the Virginia National Bank Building in 1965, the statue and 200-ton granite base were taken down with officials citing concerns that it could topple. A plan to resituate the monument several feet from its earlier site was brokered in 1966, but some opposed it. According to the Ledger-Star, the Norfolk Fine Arts Committee felt that a “contemporary-style sculpture would be more appropriate for the ‘New Norfolk,’” and they suggested putting the sculpture in a park instead. Others objected to the statue because they found it offensive. Joseph A. Jordon, the only black member of Norfolk City Council at the time, said he was “concerned that it will resurrect old fears and distrusts.” A letter to the editor went further, noting that “the memory of a war to defend slavery [does not] stand for all Norfolk’s residents today. It would be better for the New Norfolk to look to the future, not to the past.” In the wake of the recent white supremacist gathering in Charlottesville related to the removal of a Robert E. Lee statue, the Norfolk memorial has become controversial again and Norfolk officials are considering removing the monument.