Vmi Vs West Point - The monumental rise and fall of West Point and VMI while racially accounting is a matter of respect. For VMI, it's a matter of survival.
George C. In the center is a statue of Marshall. The Stonewall Jackson Arch in South Center, the former site of a statue honoring the Confederate general, was once the centerpiece of the landscape. (Courtesy/Virginia Military Institute)
Vmi Vs West Point
LEXINGTON, Wash. - Two of the military's oldest sources of youth officers are going beyond removing Confederate symbols as they rethink how their landscapes, buildings and sculptures impact their students.
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The count comes amid a congressionally mandated review of Confederate artifacts and names at the Department of Defense, in addition to intense scrutiny by state governments and the general public.
For the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, that means adding new statues and changing some names. But for the Virginia military establishment — sometimes called the "West Point of the Confederacy" — the task is more complex.
Earlier this month, the Army unveiled a new monument at West Point. It honors black soldiers who helped train cavalry cadets from 1907 to 1941. The bronze monument, donated by the Buffalo Soldiers Association at West Point, depicts a ten-foot-tall black cavalryman on horseback.
"The battles fought by Buffalo Soldiers from 1866 to 1947 were many, and their victories were stories," said retired Gen. Vincent Brooks, who presided over the flag-raising ceremony at the monument at West Point. "One particular battle went with them regardless of location - the fight against institutional racism."
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Buffalo Soldier George S. Patton, Dwight D. During their formative years, they worked daily with several World War II military veterans, including Eisenhower and Omar Bradley.
"These Soldiers embodied West Point's motto of the Army ethos of duty, honor, country and ideals," Lt. Gen. Darrell Williams, the academy's superintendent, said in a news release. "This memorial will serve as an inspiration to the next generation of cadets while ensuring that the legacy of the Buffalo Soldiers is honored and respected."
The United States Military Academy officially unveiled the Buffalo Soldier Memorial at West Point, New York on September 10, 2021, with approximately 600 guests. The statue represents the soldiers of the 9th and 10th Cavalry Regiments who embodied the values of the army during their service in the cadet corps between the years 1947-1907. (Army/John Pelino)
The new memorial comes as the Military Service Academy prepares to rename one of its dormitories, Road and Gate, after Robert E. Lee, the former West Point commander who rose to fame when he was chosen to lead the retreating Confederate forces.
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Over the past year, the landscape at Virginia Military Institute has also changed rapidly, as its new leadership looks to a variety of historical figures to inspire its student body after publicly backing away from the public idolization of Thomas "Stonewall" Jackson.
Jackson was a legendary Confederate commander who was a "moderate" faculty member at VMI a decade before the war, according to an archived version of the school's website.
Cadets once saluted the statue of Jackson from its construction in 1912 until the tradition was banned in 2015. The school removed the statue late last year. The school's board of trustees recently voted to remove his name from buildings, citations and other inscriptions on campus.
Because it is a state university and not a DoD institution like West Point, VMI is exempt from the DoD ban on reviews of Confederate insignia and the Naming Commission.
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But that hasn't stopped the nation's oldest state military school from receiving sharp criticism for its previous handling of its Civil War legacy. The law firm Barnes & Thornburg submitted a report to the Virginia state legislature this summer detailing VMI's "racist and sexist culture."
The report described how some in the VMI community "viewed the [Confederate] images and traditions as inferior," particularly cadets and graduates of color.
The report found that continued "emphasis on Confederate symbols and support for the Confederacy" would make it difficult to recruit and retain cadets of color. The report recommended that the school de-emphasize its Confederate heritage in favor of other prominent VMI alumni.
The Army Times spoke with VMI officials — including its superintendent and the longtime director of its museum system — about their efforts to restore the school's landscape and bronze statues despite opposition from a vocal minority of alumni.
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The school's Board of Trustees formed a committee to review the major descriptions of the VMI confederation as a starting point for work toward the report's recommendation.
The superintendent, retired Army Maj. Gen. Cedric Vince, says the moves are part of creating a more "welcoming" environment for developing future leaders — 55 percent of VMI graduates earn commissions in the U.S. military.
Vince, the first black to lead VMI, graduated from the school in 1985. He took over as interim superintendent in November 2020, after his predecessor was forced to resign amid controversy over allegations of systemic racism that surfaced in The Washington Post. The Board of Visitors approved Vince's permanent appointment in April.
"We want the young men and women to be able to come here and find the welcoming environment because I believe that will better ensure their ability to find their place," Vince said in an interview with Army Times on Friday. "[We want them to understand where they want to excel, what they want to aspire to be."
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As the committee continues its work through May 2022, VMI has already made one major shift in its commemorative landscape, according to VMI Museum Administrator Keith Gibson.
Gibson, a 1977 graduate of VMI, is a former Navy SEAL. He joined the VMI Museum staff in 1986 and now oversees its three museums. As is customary with VMI administrators, he holds a commission as a colonel in the Virginia State Militia.
In December, the school removed the iconic statue of Jackson near its parade ground and made cadet salutes mandatory through 2015, Gibson explained.
After rearranging flagpoles and landscaping, the parade ground is now centered on a plaza with a bronze statue of General George C. Marshall, a 1901 VMI graduate.
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Marshall served as Army Chief of Staff throughout World War II before becoming Secretary of State and overseeing the rebuilding of Europe after the war. Now, the first year cadets are saluting Marshall.
"We've reimagined and centered our barracks on Marshall's front statue, separated by two flagpoles," Vince explained. "This is a reminder of a significant graduate who made an impact at a time that I think we can all recognize as important to the continued development and success of the United States of America."
George C., who served as an army general, secretary of state and secretary of defense. The monument, dedicated to Marshall, is the new centerpiece of the commemorative landscape at his alma mater, the Virginia Military Institute in Lexington, Virginia. (Courtesy/VMI)
"I never felt [the transfer] was placed before Marshall got his due recognition and recognition," Gibson said. "[With Jackson's impeachment] we now have the opportunity to give [the statue] the priority Marshall deserves."
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The school plans to expand the existing memorial space to honor VMI Class of 1961 Civil Rights and Episcopalian martyr Jonathan Daniels.
Daniels, who participated in the second Selma to Montgomery march, later stayed in Alabama to continue his activism, and died in 1965 defending a black civil rights activist from a white man who was angry about his attempt to enter the store.
Martin Luther King Jr. later described Daniels' act as "one of the most heroic Christian acts I have heard of in my entire ministry."
VMI will erect a memorial to Daniels that will serve as a gateway to the expanded Memorial Plaza and serve as outdoor classroom space, Gibson and Wiens said.
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Marshall and Daniels provide a better aspirational ideal for the school's cadets and are more deserving of places of honor on campus than Jackson and other Confederate icons on campus, Gibson told Army Times during a tour Thursday morning.
"These are truly significant changes that, once completed, will present a well-rounded and complete ideal of what we want a VMI graduate to be," Gibson told Army Times. "The world is changing. The culture is changing. VMI graduates must be ready to take their place in this new environment.
A preliminary conceptual rendering of an expanded entrance to the Jonathan Daniels Memorial Courtyard at the Virginia Military Institute in Lexington, Virginia. The school plans to honor the civil rights martyr, who had the status in 1961. (Courtesy/Virginia Military Institute)
But VMI's Confederate history extends beyond bronze and granite into the realm of tradition. The entire student body was sworn into Confederate service
