USA, West Point Military Academy removes Allied symbols from campus

Before turning against the US Army to lead the Confederate Army, Robert Lee served as superintendent of West Point, the legendary US military academy that in the coming days will take a picture of Lee in his Confederate uniform from its library, where it has been hanging since the 1950s and will be put in storage. The move is part of a Department of Defense directive issued in October ordering the academy to address racial injustice and eliminate facilities that “commemorate the memory of the Confederacy.” includes A trio of bronze plaques, depicting important events and people in US history, including Benjamin Franklin and Clara Barton. Plus large plaques, dedicated in 1965, featuring not only Lee but other Confederate supporters, who note that there were clear links between the Ku Klux Klan and the Confederacy. “We will carry out these actions with dignity and respect,” Academy Director General Steve Gillard said.

West Point Military Academy

The United States Military Academy, as West Point is officially known, was founded in 1809 along the bank of the Hudson River in upstate New York. The school has about 4,600 students, of whom two-thirds are white and about 13 percent black, according to federal data. West Point is not the only academy subject to congressional committee review. Eight other facilities were reported to address symbols of the racist past. More than a dozen recommendations from the commissions for West Point included Robert Lee, who graduated second in his class in 1829, and later served as superintendent. The report highlights that Lee’s armies “were responsible for the deaths of more American soldiers than any other enemy in our nation’s history.” West Point began installing Confederate memorials in the 1930s, the commission noted, saying it did so under pressure from the “Lost Cause” movement that sought to reframe those who fought for the Confederacy as worthy of being honored for their sacrifice.