TEXARKANA - The Confederate monument in downtown Texarkana became the subject of controversy in 2020.
It happened in the middle of the broadest concerted renovation effort to the city's core in more than 60 years, including the Courthouse Square project around the Federal Building, near which the statue stands.
The dispute in many ways mirrored national protests that were happening in this same time frame.
In late June, the Texarkana Area Women Veterans Outreach Group held a protest at the monument site, demanding that the monument, which stands at 500 N. State Line Avenue - as it has since 1918, be moved to a museum-type setting, where it can be observed with historical context.
A planned demonstration was met by counter protesters, and about 100 people gathered to express themselves. The protest was peaceful overall but did include some heated exchanges between a few individuals
Local activist and Marine veteran Bess Gamble-Williams organized the initial demonstration, saying the Confederacy went directly against the founding principles of what the United States stood for.
Black Lives Matter also started a petition effort asking the Texarkana, Texas, City Council to remove the statue, because
"this symbol is no longer compatible with the values and principles of modern day citizens of Texarkana."
The Council has been grappling with the issue since then, but has made no decision.
In a closed-door executive session, City Attorney Jeffery Lewis briefed the Council regarding the 1914 conveyance document that named new owners of the land on which the monument sits.
On the opposite side of the issue, about 40 members of a newly formed group known as "Save the Mothers' Monument" gathered downtown on a Saturday, to collect signatures for keeping the monument in place.
A spokesperson for the group said the organization had already collected about 5,000 signatures on-line, but that the group needed a more formal petition to deliver to City hall.
The monument is thought to be the only Confederate monument in Texas to include a woman.
Those in support of it staying downtown says it stands in commemoration to the mothers of Confederate soldiers, and those soldiers would also include Native Americans as well as at least 300 free black soldiers who joined the Confederate Army.
The monument still stands.
In addition to this protest, the death of George Floyd, a Black man who died while being arrested by a white police officer in Minneapolis, resulted in several marches in Texarkana and in several surrounding towns. Atlanta, Texas, and De Queen, Arkansas, held protests. Protests in Texarkana were downtown, on New Boston Road and along State Line Avenue.
A justice march was held in late May in Texarkana and a march and voter registration drive was held in June.