The first time Sherryreed Robinson remembers noticing the words — “IN APPRECIATION OF OUR FAITHFUL SLAVES” — etched on a Confederate monument in Columbia, N.C., she was a teenager performing with her high school band on the steps of the Tyrrell County courthouse. She remembers approaching the 23-foot Confederate soldier statue and focusing on those six words.
For Ms. Robinson, a high school junior at the time, “faithful” and “slaves” did not feel right together.
About three decades later, with the 123-year-old monument still overlooking the historic town’s Main Street, she joined a federal lawsuit calling for the “faithful slaves” inscription to be removed or covered. It is believed to be the only courthouse monument in the country to “textually express” such a message, according to the lawsuit.
“I just remember thinking that slaves had to be so-called faithful or they would be punished or even worse,” Ms. Robinson, 50, said. “As an adult, the words sitting on the grounds of a courthouse made me question whether Blacks could really receive justice there.”
Earlier this year, a federal judge allowed a portion of the 2024 lawsuit to move forward. County officials have long contended that a state monument protection law restricts them from moving the statue or making changes to it.
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