The Great American Erasure: What the Left Renamed, Removed and Canceled

MAGA Viral opinion graphic for Matt Hays’ article “The Great American Erasure: What the Left Renamed, Removed and Canceled,” featuring a faded American flag, historic street and military signs, a monument, institutional imagery, and vintage product branding in a dark navy, gold, red, and cream editorial design.

Many of these decisions came amid pressure from progressive activists, employees, sponsors, racial-justice campaigns or institutional diversity initiatives.

The pattern is undeniable.

Consumer Products and Branding

• Aunt Jemima → Pearl Milling Company

• Uncle Ben’s → Ben’s Original

• Eskimo Pie → Edy’s Pie

• Plantation Rum → Planteray Rum

• Dixie Beer → Faubourg Brewing Company

• Land O’Lakes removed the Native American woman from its packaging

• Cream of Wheat removed the Black chef from its packaging

Sports and Entertainment

• Washington Redskins → Washington Football Team → Washington Commanders

• Cleveland Indians → Cleveland Guardians

• Cleveland retired its Chief Wahoo logo

• The Dixie Chicks → The Chicks

• Lady Antebellum → Lady A

• Splash Mountain → Tiana’s Bayou Adventure

Universities and Institutions

• Dixie State University → Utah Tech University

• Woodrow Wilson School at Princeton → Princeton School of Public and International Affairs

• Wilson College at Princeton → First College

• Calhoun College at Yale → Grace Hopper College

• Confederate Memorial Hall at Vanderbilt → Memorial Hall

• Numerous buildings, dormitories and schools named after Robert E. Lee, Jefferson Davis, Stonewall Jackson, J.E.B. Stuart and other Confederate figures were renamed

Geographic Locations and Government Names

• Squaw Valley → Palisades Tahoe

• Mount Doane → First Peoples Mountain

• Jeff Davis Peak → Da-ek Dow Go-et Mountain

• Rhode Island and Providence Plantations → State of Rhode Island

• Nearly 650 mountains, streams, lakes, valleys and other federal geographic features were renamed because they contained the word “squaw”

• Columbus Day → Indigenous Peoples’ Day in numerous cities, states and schools

Language and Technology

Organizations, companies and technology platforms also adopted terminology changes including:

• “Gypsy moth” → “Spongy moth”

• “Asian carp” → “Copi” through an Illinois rebranding campaign

• “Monkeypox” → “Mpox”

• “Master branch” → “Main branch”

• “Blacklist” → “Blocklist”

• “Whitelist” → “Allowlist”

Roads, Highways and Streets

Official renamings, redesignations and ceremonial naming changes included:

• Jefferson Davis Highway → Richmond Highway, Emancipation Highway or Patriot Highway, depending on the Virginia locality

• Lee Highway → Langston Boulevard in Arlington

• Lee Highway → Blenheim Boulevard, Fairfax Boulevard, Main Street, Route 29 or Route 50 in other Virginia communities

• Dixie Highway → Harriet Tubman Highway in parts of Miami-Dade County

• Jefferson Davis Street → Druid Hills Way in Charlotte

• Robert E. Lee Road → Unison Road in Houston

• Forrest Street → Barack Obama Boulevard in Valdosta

• Dight Avenue → Cheatham Avenue in Minneapolis

• Lake Shore Drive → Jean Baptiste Pointe DuSable Lake Shore Drive in Chicago

• A section of 16th Street NW → Black Lives Matter Plaza in Washington, D.C.

That last one was later removed in 2025.

Other examples included:

• Broad Street → Black Lives Matter Boulevard in Salisbury, Maryland

• Main Street → Black Lives Matter Way in Hempstead, New York

Charlotte approved replacing nine street names connected to Confederate leaders, slave owners or segregationists:

• Jefferson Davis Street

• Stonewall Street

• Jackson Avenue

• Morrison Boulevard

• West Hill Street

• Phifer Avenue

• Aycock Lane

• Barringer Drive

• Zebulon Avenue

Alexandria, Virginia identified more than 40 streets associated with Confederate figures and began renaming or rededicating them in phases.

Parks, Neighborhoods and Public Places

• Stapleton neighborhood → Central Park in Denver

• McCarran International Airport → Harry Reid International Airport in Las Vegas

• Lynchview Park → Verdell Burdine Rutherford Park

• Hemming Park → James Weldon Johnson Park

• Columbus Park → Prospect Park in Buffalo

• Lee Square → Florida Square in Pensacola

• Confederate Park → Springfield Park in Jacksonville

• Stonewall Jackson Memorial Cemetery → Oak Grove Cemetery

• Jeb Stuart Trail → Northern Edge Trail

• Henry Clay Park → Zitkala-Ša Park

• Discovery Park → Kumeyaay Park

• Lake Maury → The Mariners’ Lake

• Stonewall Jackson Park → Court Square Park in Charlottesville

• Lee Park → Market Street Park in Charlottesville

Military Installations

Nine historic Army installations were renamed under the earlier federal Naming Commission process:

• Fort Bragg → Fort Liberty

• Fort Hood → Fort Cavazos

• Fort Benning → Fort Moore

• Fort Gordon → Fort Eisenhower

• Fort Lee → Fort Gregg-Adams

• Fort Polk → Fort Johnson

• Fort Rucker → Fort Novosel

• Fort A.P. Hill → Fort Walker

• Fort Pickett → Fort Barfoot

Under the Trump administration, eight of those familiar installation names were restored while honoring different American servicemembers rather than the Confederate officers who originally carried those surnames.

Fort Walker followed a different path. It was redesignated Fort Anderson-Pinn-Hill, also styled as Fort A.P. Hill, honoring Union Army Medal of Honor recipients Bruce Anderson, Robert A. Pinn and Edward Hill.

Officially Removed Confederate Monuments

The following examples were removed following action by governments, universities, museums or governing boards.

This section does not include monuments that protesters simply vandalized or toppled without official approval.

New Orleans

• Robert E. Lee Monument

• Jefferson Davis Monument

• P.G.T. Beauregard Monument

• Battle of Liberty Place Monument

Richmond

• Robert E. Lee Monument

• Stonewall Jackson Monument

• J.E.B. Stuart Monument

• Matthew Fontaine Maury Monument

• Confederate Soldiers and Sailors Monument

• A.P. Hill Monument

• Joseph Bryan Monument

• Fitzhugh Lee Cross

• Two Confederate cannons

Charlottesville

• Robert E. Lee Monument

• Stonewall Jackson Monument

Memphis

• Nathan Bedford Forrest Monument

• Jefferson Davis Monument

• Captain J. Harvey Mathes Monument

Dallas

• Robert E. Lee Monument

• Confederate War Memorial

Additional Confederate Removals

• Confederate Memorial at Arlington National Cemetery

• Robert E. Lee statue representing Virginia in the United States Capitol

• Nathan Bedford Forrest bust inside the Tennessee Capitol

• Jefferson Davis statue inside the Kentucky Capitol

• John C. Calhoun Monument in Charleston

• John B. Castleman Monument in Louisville

• Confederate Soldiers and Sailors Monument in Birmingham

• Confederate Soldiers and Sailors Monument in Indianapolis

• Raphael Semmes Monument in Mobile

• Appomattox Confederate Monument in Alexandria

• Norfolk Confederate Monument

• Confederate Monument in Jacksonville

• Spirit of the Confederacy Monument in Houston

• Richard W. Dowling Monument in Houston

• DeKalb County Confederate Monument in Georgia

• Denton Confederate Soldier Monument in Texas

• Cape Girardeau Confederate Memorial in Missouri

• University of Alabama Confederate Memorial

• Alfred Mouton Monument in Lafayette

• Confederate Cow Cavalry Monument in Plant City

• Pitt County Confederate Soldiers Monument

• Warren County Confederate Soldiers Monument

• Granville Gray Confederate Monument

• Virginia Beach Confederate Monument

• Farmville Confederate Monument

• Kanawha Riflemen Memorial in West Virginia

• Stonewall Jackson statue at Virginia’s Capitol Square

• William “Extra Billy” Smith statue at Virginia’s Capitol Square

• Hunter Holmes McGuire statue at Virginia’s Capitol Square

Founders, Presidents and Other Historical Figures Removed

• Theodore Roosevelt Equestrian Monument outside New York’s American Museum of Natural History

• Thomas Jefferson statue inside the New York City Council chamber

• Abraham Lincoln Emancipation Memorial in Boston

• Revolutionary War General Philip Schuyler Monument outside Albany City Hall

• Caesar Rodney Monument in Wilmington, Delaware

• William McKinley Monument in Arcata, California

• King Louis XVI Monument in Louisville

• Frank Rizzo Monument in Philadelphia

• Kit Carson Obelisk in Santa Fe

• Kit Carson Monument in Denver

• Diego de Vargas Monument in Santa Fe

• Juan de Oñate Monument in Albuquerque

• Juan de Oñate Monument in Alcalde, New Mexico

• Junípero Serra Monument in Ventura

• Francis Drake Monument in Larkspur

• “Early Days” section of San Francisco’s Pioneer Monument

• Lewis, Clark and Sacagawea Monument in Charlottesville

Christopher Columbus Statues Removed, Approved for Removal or Placed in Storage

Examples include:

• Columbus, Ohio

• St. Louis, Missouri

• Chicago, Illinois

• Boston, Massachusetts

• Houston, Texas

• Detroit, Michigan

• Buffalo, New York

• Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania

• Providence, Rhode Island

• Newark, New Jersey

• Camden, New Jersey

• Trenton, New Jersey

• San Antonio, Texas

• Bridgeport, Connecticut

• New Haven, Connecticut

• Norwalk, Connecticut

• New London, Connecticut

• Middletown, Connecticut

• Wilmington, Delaware

• Columbia, South Carolina

• Chula Vista, California

• Sacramento, California

And this still isn’t literally every local school, street, building, mascot, logo, monument or geographic location they targeted.

The Southern Poverty Law Center has documented hundreds of Confederate memorials and other public symbols that have been renamed, relocated or removed since 2015.

Crime wasn’t solved.

Inflation wasn’t fixed.

The border wasn’t secured.

History wasn’t better taught.

But thank God America was finally protected from Aunt Jemima, Splash Mountain, Columbus statues and a software branch named “master.”

Those were apparently the real emergencies.