In 1958, in a show of defiance to the landmark 1954 Supreme Court decision in support of Brown v Board of Education, the Georgia State Legislature created the Stone Mountain Memorial Association (SMMA). The corresponding state law mandated that the SMMA preserve the natural areas in the Stone Mountain Park area, provide access to Stone Mountain to the citizens of Georgia, and to maintain an appropriate and suitable memorial to the confederacy.
Official Code of Georgia Annotated 12-3-192
Thus the Governor of Georgia appropriated state funds to acquire 3,200 acres and allow for the SMMA to complete the world’s largest bas-relief sculpture of three confederate generals on the north face of Stone Mountain, complete a Memorial Lawn with thirteen terraces dedicated to the states that seceded, and a Memorial Hall. The park was officially opened on April 14, 1965, 100 years to the day after Lincoln’s assassination, and the carving was declared complete in 1972.
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The Georgia state legislature also requires that the SMMA continue the practice of stocking, restocking and sales of confederate memorabilia.
Official Code of Georgia Annotated 12-3-194
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Five of the Seven major thoroughfares in Stone Mountain Park are named after confederates:
Robert E. Lee Boulevard – Commander in Chief of the Confederate Army during the Civil War.
Stonewall Jackson Drive – Confederate general during the Civil War.
Jefferson Davis Drive – President of the Confederate States of America during the Civil War.
John B. Gordon Drive – Confederate general and U.S. Senator. He is thought to have been a leader of the Klu Klux Klan. He was the first Commander-in-Chief of the the United Confederate Veterans
Admiral Raphael Semmes Drive – Confederate Rear Admiral in the Civil War.
Old Hugh Howell Road – Chairman of the Georgia Democratic State Executive Committee in the 1930’s
James B. Rivers Memorial Drive – former Stone Mountain City Police Chief.
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