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A statue of Confederate Gen. Nathan Bedford Forrest once sat in a park in Memphis, Tenn. AP Photo/Adrian Sainz
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WATCH: City of Memphis gets rid of two Confederate statues

Monuments to Klansman Nathan Bedford Forrest and Confederate President Jefferson Davis come down after campaign

Kelley D. Evans @kelleysthrngrl
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What Had Happened Was David Fizdale Jefferson Davis Confederate Statues Memphis Greenspace

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    2:32 PMTwo Confederate statues were removed from former public parks in the city of Memphis, Tennessee, after the properties were sold to the nonprofit agency Memphis Greenspace. It all went down Wednesday at 9:01 p.m. in the city, which coincidentally has the area code 901.

    The decision to proceed with the removal came to fruition Wednesday after the city council voted to sell the parks where the statues were located.

    During the summer, educator and city activist Tami Sawyer started the #TakeEmDown901 campaign, which was followed by protests that ended in arrests and sparked the initiative that prompted the removals. The campaign even got support of athletes and coaches including the then-Memphis Grizzlies head coach David Fizdale.

    According to The New Tri-State Defender, the parks were sold for $1,000 each, which legally gave the agency authority to remove the statues.

    Confederate general Nathan Bedford Forrest, a slave trader, was the first grand wizard of the Ku Klux Klan. Jefferson Davis was president of the Confederate States of America from 1861 to 1865 and lived in Memphis.

    Memphis Mayor Jim Strickland posted a statement on Facebook that it was important to see the statues removed ahead of the 50th anniversary of Martin Luther King Jr.’s death in 2018.

    “The statues no longer represent who we are as a modern, diverse city with momentum,” he wrote.

    Kelley Evans is a digital producer at Andscape. She is a food passionista, helicopter mom and an unapologetic Southerner who spends every night with the cast of The Young and the Restless by way of her couch.