CHARLOTTE, N.C. — A council member wants the city to rethink its decision to bring back a plaque, once displayed in Old City Hall.
The local chapter of the National Society of Daughters of American Colonists wants to recreate a plaque that honored the city of Charlotte's charter in 1768.
Braxton Winston called for the city to delay its decision because the monument doesn't honor indigenous people or slaves.
“The wording of this public monument is disingenuous to me and, really, we shouldn't be considering it if it doesn't tell the whole truth,” Winston said.
The city says it lost the original plaque.
The request was on the consent agenda, a group of routine business items that often pass with little debate.
Political scientist Eric Heberlig said Monday night may be an example of what's to come with a new, much younger City Council.
“I think with many new members of council, those who represent a different generation than has been on council in the past, you're going to have new issues, perspectives, new groups they feel like they're representing," he said.
College student Shantel Johnson said she's happy to see leaders challenging tradition.
“I'm tired of being told, ‘This is what it is, take it,’” Johnson said.
Charlotte librarian Thomas Cole said remembering Charlotte's birth is important, but history doesn't reveal everything.
“When you commemorate a legal act like this, an act about property, you talk about the deeds of men who make laws and men who own property,” Cole said. “They are the ones who leave records behind and the ones who leave records to talk about.
The local Chapter of the National Society of Daughters of American Colonists wants to install the replica plaque to coincide with Charlotte's 250th anniversary. The etched bronze plaque will be 23 inches high, 16 inches wide and 1/4 inch thick.
City leaders are now receiving more information about the plaque. A decision on whether to hold a future public hearing on the topic will likely happen in the coming weeks. If approved, the replica will hang in Old City Hall.
According to documents filed with the city of Charlotte, the inscription would be:
"Charlotte, the Queen City, established by act of legislature December 3, 1768. Named in honor of Queen Charlotte of Mecklenburg - Streilitz, Germany, wife of George III of England. Three hundred sixty acres of original tract was conveyed on January 15, 1767 from Henry E. McCulloch, Agent of George Augustus Selwyn, one of the first landowners in the country,to Abraham Alexander, Thomas Polk, and John Frohock, representatives of the city-to-be. Erected by the North Carolina Society of the Daughters of the American Colonists. Mrs. John Scott Welborn, State Regent, March 30, 1937. Originally erected 30 March 1937. North Carolina Society Daughters of American Colonists. Restoration Erected March 2018, John Lawson, Surveyor General Chapter, Daughters of American Colonists."
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