The Jefferson School African American Heritage Center is a cultural arts and history center whose mission is to honor and preserve the rich heritage and legacy of the African-American community of Charlottesville-Albemarle, Virginia. Additionally, the heritage center promotes a greater appreciation for and understanding of the contributions of African Americans and peoples of the Diaspora locally in Charlottesville, across America and globally as well.

In a modern-day Confederate statue cremation, the controversial statue of Confederate general Robert E. Lee will be donated to the Jefferson School African American Heritage Center. Plans are for the statue, which lived at the center of the 2017 Unite the Right rally in Charlottesville, to be melted down into materials for a new piece of public art.

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An Indiegogo campaign page for the project said that its leaders wanted to “transform a national symbol of white supremacy into a new work of art that will reflect racial justice and inclusion.”

Related: Charlottesville’s Statue of Robert E. Lee Will Be Melted Down New York Times

Charlottesville’s Robert E. Lee statue will be melted down by city’s African American history museum Washington Post