Boot Confederate General for Dolly Parton Instead?

GOP congressman wants a change at the state Capitol in Tennessee
By Newser Editors,  Newser Staff
Posted Dec 23, 2019 3:31 PM CST
Dolly Parton May Replace a Confederate General
Dolly Parton performs at her 50th Opry Member Anniversary at the Grand Ole Opry in Nashville in October.   (Larry McCormack/The Tennessean via AP)

It's an interesting idea to say the least: A congressman from Tennessee proposes removing the bust of a Confederate general from the state Capitol in Nashville and replacing it with one of Dolly Parton. Rep. Jeremy Faison, chair of the House Republican Caucus, floated the idea in an interview with the Tennessean. He says it's time for the bust of Nathan Bedford Forrest, who also served as the first grand wizard of the KKK after the Civil War, to be moved from the Capitol to the state museum.

"How about getting a lady in there?" asked Faison, noting that seven of the eight busts in the Capitol's alcove are of white men. "What's wrong with someone like Dolly Parton being put in that alcove?" He also offered the possibility of suffragist Anne Dallas Dudley. The idea would seemingly have bipartisan support. Earlier this month, state Rep. Mike Stewart, chair of the Democratic caucus, also said the bust of Forrest must go, reports Fox17. "It is presumably self-evident that the first Grand Wizard of the Ku Klux Klan should not greet school children and other visitors when they tour our seat of government," he wrote. (More Dolly Parton stories.)

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