Monument honoring abolition of slavery unveiled in Richmond, Virginia, weeks after removing Robert E. Lee statue
CBSN
A monument dedicated to the abolition of slavery was unveiled in Richmond, Virginia, on Wednesday, two weeks after a statue of Confederate General Robert E. Lee was taken down 2 miles away.
The Emancipation and Freedom Monument portrays two 12-foot bronze statues of a man, a woman and an infant after being freed from slavery. The woman is holding the child and a piece of paper with the January 1, 1863, date — the day when President Abraham Lincoln signed the Emancipation Proclamation. The man is shown having whip scars and appears to be breaking free from shackles.
The monument on Brown's Island also honors the contributions of 10 Black Virginians who fought for freedom before and after emancipation.
Ashley White received her earliest combat action badge from the United States Army soon after the first lieutenant arrived in Afghanistan. The silver military award, recognizing soldiers who've been personally engaged by an attacker during conflict, was considered an achievement in and of itself as well as an affirming rite of passage for the newly deployed. White had earned it for using her own body to shield a group of civilian women and children from gunfire that broke out in the midst of her third mission in Kandahar province. All of them survived. She never mentioned the badge to anyone in her battalion.
The knock at the door came at nighttime on Mother's Day 2008 in Oregon, where Jessica Ellis' parents lived. It was around 9:20 p.m. and his wife, Linda, was already in bed; her father Steve Ellis told CBS News, that he thought someone let their animals out — but two soldiers in Class A uniforms were standing at the door.