Memorial Hall (formerly known as Confederate Memorial Hall) is a historic building on the

Peabody College Vanderbilt Peabody College of Education and Human Development (also known as Vanderbilt Peabody College, Peabody College, or simply Peabody) is the education school of Vanderbilt University, a private research university in Nashville, Tennessee ...

campus of

Vanderbilt University Vanderbilt University (informally Vandy or VU) is a private research university in Nashville, Tennessee. Founded in 1873, it was named in honor of shipping and rail magnate Cornelius Vanderbilt, who provided the school its initial $1-million ...

Nashville, Tennessee Nashville is the capital city of the U.S. state of Tennessee and the seat of Davidson County. With a population of 689,447 at the 2020 U.S. census, Nashville is the most populous city in the state, 21st most-populous city in the U.S., and t ...

. It was built in 1935 as a dormitory hall for female descendants of

Confederate States Army The Confederate States Army, also called the Confederate Army or the Southern Army, was the military land force of the Confederate States of America (commonly referred to as the Confederacy) during the American Civil War (1861–1865), fighting ...

veterans. Its former name resulted in multiple lawsuits and

student unrest Campus protest or student protest is a form of student activism that takes the form of protest at university campuses. Such protests encompass a wide range of activities that indicate student dissatisfaction with a given political or academi ...

. In August 2016, Vanderbilt announced it would reimburse the

United Daughters of the Confederacy The United Daughters of the Confederacy (UDC) is an American neo-Confederate hereditary association for female descendants of Confederate Civil War soldiers engaging in the commemoration of these ancestors, the funding of monuments to them, ...

for their financial contribution and remove the word ''Confederate'' from the building.

History

The project was initiated by the United Daughters of the Confederacy (UDC) as early as the mid-1890s and was supported by Peabody College president

James D. Porter James Davis Porter (December 7, 1828 – May 18, 1912) was an American attorney, politician, educator, and officer of the Confederate Army. He served as the 20th Governor of Tennessee from 1875 to 1879. He was subsequently appointed as Assistant S ...

, a Confederate veteran and former Tennessee governor, in 1902. Edith D. Pope, the second editor of the ''

Confederate Veteran The ''Confederate Veteran'' was a magazine about veterans of the Confederate States Army during the American Civil War of 1861–1865, propagating the myth of the Lost Cause of the Confederacy. It was instrumental in popularizing the legend of Sa ...

'' and a leading member of the Nashville No. 1 chapter of the UDC, played a key role in its construction. In addition, Pope and other members of the UDC made sure the college would offer a course on Southern history. The construction of Confederate Memorial Hall was supported by a $50,000 donation from the UDC in 1933. The total cost of construction was $140,000. The building was completed in 1935. It was used as a residential building by female descendants of Confederate veterans who were selected by the UDC to live free of charge while they studied education. Vandyconfederatehall

The building became part of Vanderbilt University campus in 1979 when the university acquired Peabody College. By 1988, students were holding protests on campus, arguing the building's name was offensive to black students. As a result, the university added a memorial plaque near the building to contextualize the origin of the name. When

Gordon Gee Elwood Gordon Gee (born February 2, 1944), known as E. Gordon Gee, is an American academic. As of 2020, he was serving his second term as President of West Virginia University; his first term was from 1981 to 1985. Gee has held more university ...

became Chancellor in 2002, he tried to change the name of the building. However, the United Daughters of the Confederacy sued the university in the Davidson County Chancery Court. The case went to the

Tennessee Supreme Court The Tennessee Supreme Court is the ultimate judicial tribunal of the state of Tennessee. Roger A. Page is the Chief Justice. Unlike other states, in which the state attorney general is directly elected or appointed by the governor or state leg ...

, and Judge

William C. Koch, Jr. William C. Koch Jr. (born September 12, 1947) is a former justice of the Tennessee Supreme Court. Prior to his appointment to the court in 2007, he served 23 years on the Tennessee Court of Appeals. He retired from the court on July 15, 2014, a ...

sided with the UDC. By 2005, Judge

William B. Cain William is a masculine given name of Norman French origin.Hanks, Hardcastle and Hodges, ''Oxford Dictionary of First Names'', Oxford University Press, 2nd edition, , p. 276. It became very popular in the English language after the Norman conqu ...

of the

Tennessee Court of Appeals The Tennessee Court of Appeals (in case citation, Tenn. Ct. App.) was created in 1925 by the Tennessee General Assembly as an intermediate appellate court to hear appeals in civil cases from the Tennessee state trial courts. Appeals of judgments ...

concluded that the word ''Confederate'' was not about slavery, but about the fallen soldiers of the Confederate States Army, who defended their land against Northern invaders. When he suggested Vanderbilt University would have to repay the UDC for their $50,000 donation (adjusted to inflation), the university dropped the lawsuit. However, the university used the name "Memorial Hall" in their publications. In November 2015, students asked Chancellor Nicholas Zeppos to change the name on the building, arguing that "Vanderbilt refuses to pay $1 million to the Daughters of the Confederacy to divorce this university from its 'racist' past but raised $10 million to renovate campus baseball facilities". On August 15, 2016, the university announced it would remove the word ''Confederate'' from the building after receiving an anonymous donation of $1.2 million to repay the United Daughters of the Confederacy. The UDC "reluctantly" accepted the donation. Meanwhile, the university hid the word ''Confederate'' with a "temporary covering". Alumnus

Clay Travis Richard Clay Travis (born April 6, 1979) is an American writer, lawyer, radio host and television analyst. As a sports journalist, Travis founded ''OutKick''. As a political commentator, he and Buck Sexton host ''The Clay Travis and Buck Sexto ...

, a

Fox Sports Fox Sports is the brand name for a number of sports channels, broadcast divisions, programming, and other media around the world. The ''Fox Sports'' name has since been used for other sports media assets. These assets are held mainly by the F ...

journalist, criticized his alma mater's decision to remove the word ''Confederate'', comparing them to "Middle Eastern terrorists". In response,

Jack Daniel's Jack Daniel's is a brand of Tennessee whiskey. It is produced in Lynchburg, Tennessee, by the Jack Daniel Distillery, which has been owned by the Brown–Forman Corporation since 1956. Packaged in square bottles, Jack Daniel's "Black Label" T ...

canceled a $3,000 promotion deal it had with Travis.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Confederate Memorial Hall Buildings and structures in Nashville, Tennessee Confederate States of America monuments and memorials in Tennessee Removed Confederate States of America monuments and memorials School buildings completed in 1935 United Daughters of the Confederacy monuments and memorials Vanderbilt University

History

See also

References

External links