The History and Current Climate of Stone Mountain Park

Did you know:

  • The KKK was restarted at the Park in 1915 and it continues to be a sacred place for the hate group 

  • The Park is the largest Confederate memorial in the country, though no battles were actually fought here and work on the carving was completed in 1972 

  • The Georgia Legislature established the Park and legally required it to serve as a Confederacy memorial in defiance of the Supreme Court’s Brown v. Board of Education decision ending school segregation

  • The Park used prison labor for four decades

  • There are more than 10 Park streets and features named after Confederate and Ku Klux Klan figures

  • The Park is required by law to sell Confederate memorabilia in their gift shop (Walmart, Amazon, and eBay have banned the sale of such items)

  • The Park still flies Confederate battle flags which are banned by the United States Military and NASCAR

  • The Park has closed numerous times in recent years because of planned white supremacy protests and the clear and present danger they presented to public safety

  • On July 4, 2020 nearly 200 heavily armed demonstrators with military-style weapons entered the Park to challenge white supremacy groups

  • On August 15, 2020 the Park closed and the Georgia National Guard had to be deployed to Protect the park from a planned white supremacy rally 

  • Referring to this rally, the Park CEO Bill Stephens said, “If they got in, they’d have 3,200 acres to go crazy.” 

  • The Park’s August 15 closure diverted the heavily-armed hate group to Stone Mountain Village forcing businesses to close and the city to issue a public notice warning its residents 

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Recent Stone Mountain Protests