JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – Take Em Down Jax held a party Friday to celebrate the removal of Confederate monuments and the change of school names connected to the Civil War around Jacksonville.
In 2020, the first monument was removed and the park was renamed James Weldon Johnson Park. The most recent monument removal was in December at Springfield Park. The “Women of the Confederacy” statue was taken down. It was placed in the park during the Jim Crow era about 108 years ago.
The organization said it has been battling these issues for years.
RELATED: Surprise removal of Confederate monument garners strong, mixed reactions from Jacksonville residents
“It’s been eight long years. It’s a bit of a sweet victory. But we’ve did it. And we did it with the help of the city and the mayor. And people who were just fed up with the fact that the statues have been lingering for so long in the city,” Wells Todd said.
Todd explained how he felt about seeing the statues removed.
“I think a big part of the removal of these statues was being able to reach out to the community and educate the community about why they needed to be removed,” Todd said.
For Roselle Van-Nostrand, she said she feels proud.
“I keep thinking of the children that don’t have to see them, you know, they don’t have to be part of their lives, you know, walking through the city and you know, that was pretty heartbreaking,” Van-Nostrand said.
News4JAX also reached out to the organizations that opposed the removals. We did not immediately hear back.