Tim Kaine: Robert E. Lee Statue in Capitol Changed With Barbara Rose Johns

The moment is so seared into his brain that Sen. Tim Kaine remembers the exact time when he recorded the removal of the Robert E. Lee statue from the U.S. Capitol in 2020, when tearing down Confederate monuments and statues was all the rage (and soon spilled over into other controversial figures like Thomas Jefferson, Christopher Columbus, and Francis Scott Key). People were fretting over what to do with the Washington Monument. It was the same year Popular Mechanics published an article on scientists’ recommendations for the best way to topple statues you decide you no longer like.

Kaine got up early to watch the removal of the Lee statue from the Capitol building, and now he’s proud to announce that the empty space will be filled with a statue of Barbara Rose Johns.

At 4:30am on a night in December 2020, I recorded the removal of the Robert E. Lee statue from the U.S. Capitol. Today, he’ll be replaced by Barbara Rose Johns, who led a protest of conditions in her all-Black school in Farmville that eventually helped end segregation in America. pic.twitter.com/Qw33CvPyYI

— Senator Tim Kaine (@SenTimKaine) December 16, 2025

Thanks for the context, because we had no idea who Johns was. But now visitors to the Capitol will.

Maybe we can pretend the Civil War never happened because it’s such an uncomfortable conversation for the Democrats to explain that they owned slaves.

— BiffBifford™ 🇺🇸 (@TBifford) December 16, 2025

155 years after his death, people still know about Robert E. Lee. No one has ever heard of Barbara Rose Johns. 155 years from now, when our country has become South Africa, Lee’s name will still be remembered, and hers still forgotten.

— Nathaniel Eliason (@n3liason) December 16, 2025

You chose the easy kind of ‘courage’: tearing down a symbol. Lee’s greatness—whatever your opinion of his cause—came from duty, command, and consequence. History will sort him out; it’ll forget this little victory lap of yours.

— Michael Brasher (@2ndMississippi) December 16, 2025

Erasing history is nothing to celebrate.

— DanOnBoard (@DanOnBoard11) December 16, 2025

It isn’t. These are the people still in shock at seeing the East Wing being demolished.

Why not just add one of Barbara? Don’t take down history. Where is it going?

— Stryker Anderson (@StrykerAnd65347) December 16, 2025

They probably just stuck it in the basement along with all of the portraits of Confederate speakers of the House. Perhaps they’ll follow Charlottesville’s lead and have the Lee statue melted down to be transformed into new public artworks that celebrate inclusivity. (Actually, it was transferred to the Virginia Museum of History & Culture.)

And then racism ended.

— Skeletor 🧼🧽🫧 (@TheMuppetPastor) December 16, 2025

And everyone clapped.

Such a crucially important senatorial duty to ensure that Members of Congress and visitors to the Capitol won’t be forced to gaze upon the likeness of a historical figure in our nation’s history – can’t imagine how folks have survived this horror for all these years.

— Jason Beale (@jabeale) December 16, 2025

Pathetic performance theatrics.

— Reza Chowdhury (@RezaC1) December 16, 2025

This is an odd thing to celebrate.

— The_Moderate_Virginian (@TheModerateVA) December 16, 2025

Johns’ statue was unveiled in Emancipation Hall on Tuesday. Good for her.

Now what to do with the problematic Jefferson Memorial and the Washington Monument?

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