A Modest Proposal for Market Street Park

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Eugene Williams was a central figure in the fight to desegregate Charlottesville Public Schools. Now 91, he has a proposal to take Robert E. Lee off the pedestal, literally, without removing the statue from Market Street Park.

Mr. Williams seeks to complete the picture of history, not eradicate it. His vision would add statues of important African-Americans such as Frederick Douglass, Harriet Tubman and Benjamin Banneker to the park, inspiring the next generation with their heroic stories.

Seeing public art as a tool for healing a community, Williams has assembled a working group to help facilitate his vision – a park where children of all backgrounds are invited to be inspired by the lives of such great men and women of the past – and challenged to carry on their work into the future.