CHARLESTON, W.Va. — Crews with the city of Charleston removed on Monday a plaque at Ruffner Memorial Park that recognized members of the Confederate army.
The plaque, dedicated in 1922 by the United Daughters of the Confederacy’s Kanawha Riflemen Chapter, listed multiple military officers as well as a “colored cook, faithful during the war.”
The Ruffner family gave the land to the city in 1831 to be used as a cemetery. The plot became a park in 1920.
“The City of Charleston removed the confederate monument out of Ruffner Park, which is owned and maintained by the City of Charleston,” communications specialist Mackenzie Spencer said in a statement. “It was the right thing to do to remove it, and so we did earlier today.”
The state ACLU chapter applauded the decision in a release Monday evening.
“The city of Charleston has rightly removed a racist and historically inaccurate plaque from Ruffner Memorial Park 98 years after the plaque was installed by the Daughters of the Confederacy,” the organization said.