In Decatur, Georgia, a powerful transformation is taking place. A square that once held a Confederate monument for over a century is now becoming home to a statue of the late civil rights icon, John Lewis. The installation of the sculpture began last week, with the official unveiling set for Saturday.
Basil Watson, the artist behind the new statue, expressed his excitement during the installation, saying, “It’s exciting to see it going up and exciting for the significance of what it represents and what it’s replacing.”
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This poignant moment comes about four years after Decatur officials removed a 30-foot-tall obelisk erected by the Daughters of the Confederacy in 1908. The Confederate monument was taken down in June 2020 amid the national racial justice protests that swept the country following the murder of George Floyd in Minneapolis. Floyd’s death, at the hands of a white police officer, ignited a widespread movement for justice and equality.
The new statue, a large bronze figure of John Lewis, now stands where the Confederate monument once loomed. Watson’s 16-foot-tall sculpture captures Lewis with his hands over his heart, a gesture symbolizing the love and compassion that defined his life’s work. Lewis, a revered civil rights leader, led sit-ins to protest segregation in the Jim Crow-era South and was famously beaten during the march across the Edmund Pettus Bridge in Selma, Alabama, in 1965.
John Lewis’s legacy extended beyond his activism; he served as a U.S. Congressman from 1987 until his passing in July 2020 at the age of 80, following a battle with advanced-stage pancreatic cancer.
The installation of this statue was made possible by the John Lewis Commemorative Task Force, a group created by DeKalb County, which began its search for a new public art installation at the site of the former Confederate monument in the summer of 2021. Now, the statue of John Lewis not only honors his life and contributions but also marks a significant shift in the narrative of the square, turning a place once associated with division into one of unity and hope.
