BRUNSWICK (AP) – Bowdoin College is moving a Confederate memorial plaque from a school lobby to the archives and special collections of its library in the wake of deadly, race-fueled clashes in Charlottesville, Virginia.
Bowdoin President Clayton Rose announced Saturday that the school has concluded that historical artifacts “directly tied to the leadership of a horrible ideology are not meant for a place designed to honor courage, principle, and freedom.”
The plaque includes the names of 19 Bowdoin College and Medical School of Maine alumni who fought for the Confederacy in the Civil War, including Confederate president Jefferson Davis, who received an honorary degree from Bowdoin before the war.
The college will replace the plaque in the lobby with a panel describing the plaque, its history and why it was moved.
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