Summary
In which we discuss iconography (the study of icons), primarily so we can talk about the protests relating to/attempting to tear down the Robert E. Lee (and other major Confederate) statue(s) in Richmond, VA. But there’s also some good stuff on Medieval iconography, Kehinde Wiley, GB Trudeau, and Beyoncé.
Notes, Corrections, Annotations

1/ For reference, Charlottesville has a population of about 48k people, while Richmond has a population of 227k (similar in size to Madison, actually).
Jesse: True! However, the greater RIchmond metropolitan area actually had 1,263,617 people (in 2016) while the greater Madison metropolitan area had 654,230 (in 2017). The Richmond area is actually pretty big for a city that feels fairly small. Also, UVA’s student population is 21,985, so the university is a very significant presence. Thomas Jefferson founded the University of Virginia (UVA) in 1819, and the school is occasionally called “Mr. Jefferson’s University.”
2/ Maggie Walker. The daughter of a former slave (and Union spy!), she was the first Black woman to charter a bank in the US. She was an advocate for African Americans and women; later, when she became confined to a wheelchair due to medical problems, she became an advocate for the disabled as well. The statue of her was unveiled in July of 2017, just about a month before the Charlottesville protests (which were around August 13, 2017). Here is the statue.
3/ Would the modern US’s relationship with African Americans be significantly different (better) if Lincoln had lived? There’s no easy answer to the question, because Northerners were anti-slavery but also generally anti-Black. Still, Lincoln was a master politician. Also this seems like a great starting point for a steampunk novel for anyone who is way more into historical research than I am. (And, like, I’m half of a podcast about history, so–be really into it.)–Em.
Jesse: Lots of scholars argue about this. The question is, would Reconstruction have continued longer than it did? For example, Mississippi elected two African Americans to the US Senate during Reconstruction–Hiram Rhodes Revels in 1870 and Blanche Bruce in 1875. Imagine if that had continued! Unfortunately, the compromise of 1877 (which made Rutherford B. Hayes president) effectively ended Reconstruction and ushered in the era of Jim Crow. If Lincoln had been president at the beginning of Reconstruction rather than Johnson, would it have made a difference? Would Reconstruction have been harder to end? Would it have become more integral to US politics? Hard to know, but worth considering. Lincoln’s assassination was a terrible tragedy, but we frequently think to ourselves “at least the war was over.” Unfortunately, in many ways the fight for Civil Rights was just hitting its stride, so Lincoln’s assassination may have made a very real, very important difference by removing him from the presidency and installing Andrew Johnson (a Democrat and former slaveholder from Tennessee who did not value the rights of African Americans but did value the rights of (white) Southerners).
4/ The statue was unveiled on May 29, 1890. Interestingly, Lee had a famous horse named Traveller (so famous he merits his own Wikipedia page), who is not depicted in the piece–I assume that at 16 hands, he was felt to be too petite for the size of the sculpture. As someone else who is 16 hands tall,