2020/03/10 by Sekou Franklin · 1 citation
Social Sciences · #Race, History, and American Society
paper · doi:10.1093/jahist/jaaa165
openalex publication_date 2020/03/10 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/29
The Unite the Right rally in Charlottesville, Virginia, on August 12, 2017—and the Nazi-styled tiki torch demonstration the previous evening—fueled a national debate about white nationalism, racial violence, and Confederate iconography. Spearheaded by alt-right leader (alt-right refers to a far-right, white nationalist movement) Jason Kessler, the rally featured Richard Spencer of the National Policy Institute, both of whom are alumni of the University of Virginia (Uva). The rally and counterdemonstrations were the culmination of a two-year battle in Charlottesville over the removal of the Stonewall Jackson and Robert E. Lee monuments from the city's historic district. The monuments were erected in the 1920s after two black men were executed for allegedly killing a white police officer. They were then placed in and adjacent to black neighborhoods, conceivably as a reminder that racial violence would be used to maintain the racial order. Louis P. Nelson and Claudrena N. Harold's Charlottesville 2017 and Hawes Spencer's Summer of Hate examine the political turmoil surrounding the Unite the Right rally. Many people suffered injuries from clashes at the rally. Three people died as well, including the gruesome killing of Heather Heyer, who was run over by a car driven by an alt-right activist. Afterward, President Donald J. Trump weighed in on Charlottesville events with comments that seemed to defend the alt-right movement.