Legislative Hearing: Monumental Decisions: A Long Overdue Reckoning with Racist Symbols on Our Public Lands

Subcommittee on National Parks, Forests, and Public Lands Date: Tuesday, July 21, 2020 Time: 10:00 AM Presiding: The Honorable Debra Haaland, Chair

On Tuesday, July 21, 2020 at 10:00 a.m. EDT, in Room 1324 Longworth House Office Building and online via Cisco Webex video conferencing platform, the Subcommittee on National Parks, Forests, and Public Lands will hold a legislative hearing on the following bills:

  • H.R. 970 (Rep. Anthony Brown), To direct the Secretary of the Interior to develop a plan for the removal of the monument to Robert E. Lee at the Antietam National Battlefield, and for other purposes. “Robert E. Lee Statue Removal Act.”
  • H.R. 4135 (Rep. Eleanor Holmes Norton), To direct the Secretary of the Interior to remove the statue to the memory and in honor of Albert Pike erected near Judiciary Square in the District of Columbia, and for other purposes.
  • H.R. 7550 (Rep. A. Donald McEachin), To direct the Secretary of the Interior, the Secretary of Defense, and the Secretary of Veterans Affairs to inventory Confederate commemorative works on certain Federal lands, and for other purposes. “Confederate Commemorative Works Inventory and Joint Resource Study Act.”

Witness List

Panel I

Rep. Anthony Brown (H.R. 970) Maryland, 4th Congressional District

Rep. Eleanor Holmes Norton (H.R. 4135) District of Columbia, At Large

Panel II

The Reverend Robert Wright Lee, IV (H.R. 970) (testimony)

Descendent

Robert E. Lee

The Honorable Mitch Landrieu (H.R. 970) (testimony)

Founder, E Pluribus Unum

Former Mayor, City of New Orleans

Dr. Frank Smith (H.R. 4135) (testimony)

Director

African American Civil War Museum

Dr. Joseph Loconte (All Bills) (testimony)

Director, B. Kenneth Simon Center for American Studies

The Heritage Foundation

Ms. Christy Coleman (H.R. 7550) (testimony)

Public Historian