How centuries of racist images came down in one year – a visual guide
Jefferson Davis, who led the southern states during the US civil war, said that Black people are the "servile race" and that slavery is a "blessing".
For 84 years, the statue of the president of the Confederate States of America greeted visitors in the Kentucky state capitol.
The state not only helped pay for the statue, Kentucky governor AB Chandler also stood in front of a Confederate flag to dedicate the monument and said: "Jefferson Davis is not dead – his spirit lives in the heart of the people."
The statues, including this one, were a propaganda effort pushing the false narrative that the Confederacy fought to preserve their "culture". In reality, they fought to preserve slavery.
Racist imagery is baked into everyday American life, from state-sponsored monuments, to major cereal brands, to popular sports logos.
But the police killing of George Floyd in May 2020 spurred a newfound effort to remove racist images – sometimes officially, sometimes unofficially.
