Workers have pulled a bronze statue of former Baylor University President Rufus Burleson from its original spot for a move to a less-prominent perch, one of the first tangible results of a report covering on-campus representations of the university’s historical ties to racism.
The university released the Baylor Commission on Historic Campus Representation’s final report in March last year, which makes a wide range of recommendations for how the university should handle its on-campus statues and monuments referring to figures from the university’s history with ties to racism, the Confederacy or the institution of slavery.
Burleson, who served as a Confederate Army chaplain, owned at least one slave and expressed racist beliefs in his writing, ticks all three boxes. He served as president from 1851 to 1861 at the university’s original campus in Independence, and again in Waco from 1886 to 1897, overseeing Baylor’s merge with Waco University.
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“His legacy constitutes a harmful affront to current and future Black students, faculty, staff, alumni, and guests as well as to others in the majority community or group,” the commission’s report says of Burleson. “Burleson should be recognized for the good things he did; however, this prominent representation must be viewed through the lens of the principles of speaking the truth in love and loving others through our actions.”
The report says the statue’s location in what was then called the Burleson Quadrangle made it one of the more prominent depictions of a founding figure on campus, second only to the often-photographed 14-foot statue of Judge Robert Emmett Bledsoe Baylor, also a slaveholder, just outside Founders Mall. The commission recommended text on the base of the Judge Baylor statue referring to him as pro-church be changed or removed and that a monument to enslaved people held by Baylor founders be added nearby.
Baylor University Board of Regents voted in May to approve relocating the Burleson statue to a new spot between Burleson Hall and Draper Hall and renaming Burleson Quadrangle just “the Quadrangle.” The report does not recommend a change for Georgia Burleson Hall, named for Rufus Burleson’s wife, who served as matron of the dorm, though it does suggest changes should be considered to a state historical marker related to her.
On Wednesday, workers from Adam Heath Construction used an all-terrain forklift to remove the statue from its granite pedestal.
Adam Heath, who started the company in 2007, said the bronze statue weighs about 500 pounds, and removing it was as easy as fastening straps around its waist and lifting it, then cutting the bolts attaching it to the granite foundation it stood on. He said the statue is on its way to Austin for refurbishment.
Removing the 6,000 to 7,000 pound foundation, which will be discarded, was trickier. Workers guided the forklift through a slow, steady path from the Quadrangle to Speight Avenue, past a display of bells from the original Independence campus and Waco University.
The commission noted the bell from Independence is inscribed with the name of the slave-owning Baylor trustee who gifted it to the university, Albert Horton. The report suggests moving them to a new location and surrounding them with a detailed history of early founders, board members, presidents and leaders and their ties to slavery.
“The narrative concerning the bells needs to demonstrate repentance in word and deed by outlining the University’s actions and initiatives to bring balance to its telling of Baylor’s early history around slavery,” the report says.
https://wacotrib.com/news/local/education/baylor-moving-burleson-statue-in-line-with-report-on-ties-to-slavery-racism/article_106ec9a8-02ff-11ed-ab76-fbcb613665b1.html
2022-07-13 23:49:00Z
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