Stone memorializing Henry Grady

Item

Legacies Classification
Memorial Object
Memorial Type
Plaque/Marker
Memorial Context
Lost Cause
Memorialized Subject
Grady, Henry
Title
Stone memorializing Henry Grady
Background and Context
The “Walk of Fame” was created in 1929 by then-president Hamilton Holt to honor significant historical figures. The memorial is located in the center of campus around Mills Lawn. Henry Grady's stone was installed between 1929 and 1939.

Henry W. Grady (1850–1889) was a journalist and orator who became the leading spokesman of the "New South," a vision he helped to promote of a region that embraced industrialization and modernity while maintaining social hierarchies rooted in white supremacy. Grady was the managing editor of The Atlanta Constitution during the 1880s and used the paper as a vehicle to advance his perspectives.

Grady hailed from Athens, Georgia. His speeches and editorials romanticized the Old South and its plantation economy, and they promoted policies that marginalized Black communities during the Jim Crow era.

Grady's views on the Civil War and race were deeply tied to Lost Cause narratives. He praised the Confederacy’s ideals and advocated for white supremacy as a cornerstone of the South's "progress." His legacy remains highly contested. While he was hailed as a visionary during his lifetime, his rhetoric perpetuated systemic racism.

Grady’s stone was removed from the Walk of Fame, along with eight others, during the summer of 2020 amid the #BlackLivesMatter protests. These removals followed campus-wide discussions about racial justice and the role of memorials in public spaces, as detailed in an article published in The Sandspur.
Holt, Hamilton
Memorial Inscription
HENRY W. GRADY
ATHENS, GEORGIA
Creator/Participating Person(s)
Holt, Hamilton
Date created, installed or dedicated
1939
Date Modified
2020
Historical Period
1890-1945: Era of the Lost Cause, Jim Crow legal segregation and discrimination, and organized anti-Black racism
2000-Present: Memorialization in the Era of Universities Studying Slavery and the Black Lives Matter Movement
Funded by
Rollins College
Campus Location
Walk of Fame
Location: Institution, City, State
Rollins College; Winter Park, Florida
Wikidata
Henry Grady
Learn More About this Subject
Henry Grady
Henry Grady bio
Tags
Altered - Moved

Position: 853 (87 views)