Built 1935 Opened 1935 Architect Henry C. Hibbs | NRHP Reference # 11000418 Added to NRHP 6 July 2011 | |
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Location 2205 West End Avenue, Nashville, Tennessee, U.S. Similar Home Economics Building, Mayborn Building, Old Gym, Dyer Observatory, Hawkins Field | ||
Confederate Memorial Hall, now known as Memorial Hall, is a historic building on the Peabody College campus of Vanderbilt University in Nashville, Tennessee, USA. Built in 1935 as a dormitory hall for female descendants of veterans of the Confederate States Army, its name has resulted in multiple lawsuits and student unrest. In August 2016, the university announced it would remove the word "Confederate" from the building and reimburse the United Daughters of the Confederacy.
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History
The building was completed in 1935. It was designed by architect Henry C. Hibbs. Its construction was supported by a US$50,000 donation from the United Daughters of the Confederacy in 1933. It was used as a residential building, where female students who descended from Confederate veterans and intended to study for a teaching career were selected by the UDC to live free of charge.
The building was acquired by Vanderbilt University when it acquired Peabody College in 1979. By 1988, students held protests on campus, suggesting the name was offensive to black students. As a result, the university added a memorial plaque near the building to contextualize the origin of the name.
When Gordon Gee became Chancellor in 2002, he tried to change the name of the building. However, the United Daughters of the Confederacy sued the university in the Davidson County Chancery Court. The case went to the Tennessee Supreme Court, and Judge William C. Koch, Jr. sided with the UDC. By 2005, Judge William B. Cain of the Tennessee Court of Appeals concluded that the word Confederate was not about slavery, but about the fallen soldiers of the Confederate States Army, who defended their land against Northern invaders. When he suggested Vanderbilt University would have to repay the US$50,000 donation adjusted to inflation, the university dropped the lawsuit. However, the university used the name "Memorial Hall" in their publications.
In November 2015, students asked Chancellor Nicholas Zeppos to change the name on the building, arguing "Vanderbilt refuses to pay $1 million to the Daughters of the Confederacy to divorce this university from its 'racist' past but raised $10 million to renovate campus baseball facilities".
On August 15, 2016, the university announced it would remove the word Confederate from the building after anonymous donors donated US$1.2 million to repay the United Daughters of the Confederacy. The UDC accepted the donation "reluctantly". Meanwhile, the university hid the word Confederate with a "temporary covering".
Alumnus Clay Travis, a Fox Sports journalist, criticized his alma mater's decision to remove the word Confederate. In retaliation, Travis lost a US$3,000 promotion deal he had with Jack Daniel's.
Architectural significance
The building has been listed on the National Register of Historic Places since July 6, 2011.