Charleston working with museum to move controversial Calhoun monument to Columbia, SC
The long-disputed statue of former vice president and slavery advocate John C. Calhoun, which loomed over downtown Charleston for more than a century before its removal in 2020, could now be heading to Columbia.
Officials with the South Carolina State Museum and the city of Charleston announced Monday that the two are working together on an extended loan agreement that would send the 12-foot, 8-inch statue to the museum on Gervais Street.
However, a spokesman for the museum said this agreement would not necessarily make the South Carolina State Museum the final resting place for the Calhoun statue, nor would it mean the statue is going to be on public display anytime soon.
For starters, the 6,000-pound statue is too heavy for the museum to include in its exhibits.
“There was a structural engineer report that found the weight of the statue actually exceeded our current weight load at the museum,” said museum spokesman David Dickson.
Instead, the loan will be centered on safe storage of the statue and conversations about where it might end up permanently.
“Museums and cultural institutions can help provide meaningful context, reliable evidence, and scholarship to inform communities’ decisions on memorials and monuments. As a primary repository and storyteller for the state’s history, the South Carolina State Museum is pleased to offer our assistance in this process,” said State Museum Executive Director Amy Bartow-Melia. “We believe decisions about memorials and monuments should ultimately be made by the community through open dialogue and we look forward to working collaboratively with our partners as this process moves forward.”
A statement from the museum said attorneys are still finalizing a memorandum of understanding regarding the loan, which is still in the early phases.
The proposal would need approval by both the S.C. State Museum Commission and Charleston City Council to proceed.
Charleston Mayor John Tecklenburg called the potential loan with the museum in Columbia a “very fine outcome” after debate has continued to swirl in the Holy City about what should be done with this controversial bronze statue that honors a major South Carolina figure who was also an ardent defender of slavery.
Born in Abbeville, S.C., Calhoun was twice a U.S. vice president and had a long career in the U.S. Senate, where he called slavery a “positive good” in an 1837 Senate floor speech.
“As I’ve said from the start, I don’t support erasing history, but rather, serious efforts to place complicated figures such as Mr. Calhoun in their full context,” Tecklenburg said in a statement. “And, in this instance, I can’t imagine a more appropriate institution to perform that valuable public service than the SC State Museum.”
Amid a renewed national reckoning over relics honoring racist figures, Calhoun was brought down from his prominent perch overlooking Marion Square in June 2020 after a unanimous Charleston City Council vote. When construction crews detached and lowered the three-ton statue after 17 hours of work, hundreds cheered and some burst into song.
Since its removal from the city square, the monument has been stored in an undisclosed location in Charleston. Deciding where it should go next has prompted fierce debate in the historic South Carolina city.
Most recently, the city had been considering a request from two art curators who want to include the statue in a Los Angeles art exhibit.
Asked how this new proposal will affect the ongoing discussion, city spokesman Jack O’Toole said when the extended loan agreement with the State Museum has been finalized, it will go to City Council. If approved, any outside requests could then be considered by the appropriate state officials.
While details are still being worked out, the museum has confirmed that it would help facilitate transportation of the statue and its related artifacts, along with continuing to monitor the conservation of these pieces.
With approval from state lawmakers, officials with the South Carolina State Museum said they would also like to coordinate a task force with other state agencies and input from community members to create “a long-term storage and interpretive plan” for this monument.
When the city voted to remove the monument in 2020, the resolution said the statue “is seen by many people as something other than a memorial to the accomplishments of a South Carolina native, but rather a symbol glorifying slavery and as such, a painful reminder of the history of slavery in Charleston.”
About 40% of enslaved Africans brought to North America came through the port city of Charleston. The city formally apologized in 2018 for its role in the slave trade.
This story was originally published February 7, 2022 at 10:16 AM.
