WUFT-TV/FM | WJUF-FM
1200 Weimer Hall | P.O. Box 118405
Gainesville, FL 32611
(352) 392-5551

A service of the College of Journalism and Communications at the University of Florida.

© 2024 WUFT / Division of Media Properties
News and Public Media for North Central Florida
Play Live Radio
Next Up:
0:00
0:00
0:00 0:00
Available On Air Stations

Florida Reviews Suggestions To Replace Confederate Statue

An African-American woman who founded what's now Bethune-Cookman University is the top public recommendation to replace a Confederate general's statue that represents Florida in the U.S. Capitol.

Mary McLeod Bethune was recommended by 1,233 people, by far the most among the 129 submitted to the state to replace the statue of Gen. Edmund Kirby Smith.

A committee will review the recommendations Wednesday and submit three names to the Legislature, which will make the final decision on what statue will replace Smith's.

Among other top recommendations were Marjory Stoneman Douglas, who helped preserve The Everglades; James Weldon Johnson, who was Florida's first African-American lawyer; railroad and hotel builder Henry Flagler; Walt Disney; Publix supermarket founder George Washington Jenkins; and Osceola, who was a Seminole Tribe leader during the Second Seminole War.

The Associated Press is a wire service to which WUFT News subscribes.