In  2017, white supremacists held a “Unite the Right” rally after the City of Charlottesville, Virginia's  Council voted to remove the Robert E. Lee statue from a City park.  The rally resulted in the death of a counter protester, Heather Heyer and numerous injuries.  After that incident questions were raised across the South regarding existing Confederate monuments. In Franklin, after the Charlottesville rally and the death of Heather Heyer, several citizens, including local clergy and historians got together on our City square for a peaceful candlelight vigil. 

The Franklin downtown square features a confederate monument that was erected in 1899 to commemorate the 35^th anniversary of the Battle of Franklin.  The Battle took place on November 30, 1864 and ended with 10,000 casualties in this town of approximately 900 people. It decimated the Army of Tennessee which was dealt its final death blow in Nashville a few weeks later.

The night of the candlelight vigil in 2017 on the Franklin Square sparked the conversation about how to move forward with telling the fuller story in Franklin, a different path than monument removal, a way to tell the African American side of the civil war history and aftermath, and to better educate citizens and visitors, and include everyone in the history that is shared in our City.

Three local pastors, Chris Williamson, Kevin Riggs and Hewitt Sawyers, and the City’s Battlefield Historian, Eric Jacobson worked for a year with City Administrator Eric Stuckey and Mayor Ken Moore to present the idea of the Fuller Story initiative to the Board of Mayor and Aldermen. Their idea included putting educational markers near the monument and around the square depicting the African American experience before and after the Battle of Franklin and erecting a bronze statue of a US Colored Troop (USCT) Soldier.

The five markers tell the story of an old courthouse on the square where slaves were bought and sold, the Battle of Franklin, the US Colored Troop Soldiers, the 1867 race riot that occurred in Franklin and Reconstruction. 

The City Administrator met with each alderman to make them aware this idea was coming forward. The group gave their first presentation on August 14, 2018. At that time the board seemed to welcome the idea.  But as expected, many people on social media and through communications with the board expressed their concerns.   Some of those concerns were visibly racist, others wanted to know more about what would be put on the markers.  

At the next Board Meeting, an attorney for the United Daughters of the Confederacy (UDC), the group who erected the monument in 1899, came forward to object to the markers being put on the square, because he claimed the UDC owned the square and the markers should be placed somewhere else.  After this revelation by the UDC, that same night, the Board of Mayor and Aldermen decided to file a Declaratory Judgment regarding ownership of the square.  The City claimed the City owned the square because of years of upkeep and improvements.  The City did not object to the UDC owning the land directly under the monument, but felt the City had the right to erect historical markers on the property around the monument.  While the ownership of the square was tied up in court the Board of Mayor and Aldermen approved a resolution supporting the Fuller Story Initiative on September 25, 2018. 

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 received push back from some community members about the location of the markers, and the information on the markers.  At a work session meeting on January 22, 2019, after the approved resolution, the board expressed their confusion and concern about the Fuller Story Initiative,

 especially with the ongoing lawsuit.  Finally, on February 26, the Board unanimously passed a detailed resolution regarding marker placement and the USCT statue.

While the lawsuit was still pending, on October 17,2019, the City and Community Group worked together to unveil the Fuller Story Markers in the Franklin City Square.  Two markers were placed near the monument and three markers in front of the Historic County Courthouse where the bronze USCT statue will be placed in the future.  This was a valuable lesson and case study how local government can work with a community group to move an idea forward, through legal channels.

While many other cities across the South have clashed with the community regarding civil war monuments. This partnership, between local government and community leaders, to tell the Fuller Story made national news and set an example of a different way communities can deal with their past.  Our local government and community partners, people of all races and backgrounds, came together to change how Franklin’s story is told to visitors and future generations.  Once the statue was completed it was placed on the square October 23, 2021.

Backstory

In 2013 state lawmakers approved a law banning municipalities from removing historical monuments. The bill bans municipalities who remove monuments from receiving grants administered by the Historical Commission and the State Department of Economic and Community Development for five years, and can include the assessment of fines against municipalities.

In 2019, despite a prior threat of a lawsuit from the United Daughters of the Confederacy to prevent it, the City of Franklin, along with a community group, installed in the Public Square four historic markers depicting the African American experience in Franklin before, during, and immediately after the Civil War. A fifth marker, a bronze statue of a United States Colored Troops soldier, will be erected in the Public Square soon. These five markers tell the story of an old courthouse on the square where slaves were bought and sold, the Battle of Franklin, the US Colored Troop Soldiers, the 1867 race riot that occurred in Franklin and Reconstruction.

In October 2021, the City of Franklin held The Citywide USCT Soldier Statue Unveiling and Dedication. Remarks were given at this ceremony by Mayor Ken Moore, City Administrator Eric Stuckey, Alderman Dana McLendon, and sculptor Joe F. Howard. Special music was performed by the African American ensemble “Kettle Praise.” This event was free and open to the public.

Dr. Chris Williamson, a founding member of the Fuller Story, said, “This glorious statue will stand in front of the Historic Courthouse in Franklin where hundreds of escaped slaves in Williamson county and surrounding areas fled to in order to enlist in the Union Army. This statue represents the 186,000 United States Colored Troops soldiers who courageously fought for this country’s freedom and their own freedom. These black men are worthy to be honored and celebrated.”

The Fuller Story initiative has been featured in the New York Times, CNN, Tennessean, the Williamson Herald, the Williamson Home Page, the Williamson Source, Nashville Public Radio, and many other national and local television news outlets. The Fuller Story also played an instrumental role in the city of Franklin winning the All-America City Award in 2020.

UDC Lawsuit Timeline

1899

The confederate monument was placed on the Square. Although no deed has ever been found, County Court minutes from 1899 indicate that the group was to be given a small piece of land on which to place the monument.