The History of the Hayward Shepherd Memorial

Confederate heritage groups had a nickname for this monument, the Faithful Slave Memorial. W.E.B. Du Bois called the dedication a quote pro-slavery slavery celebration. Slaves were faithful because they knew slavery was better than any other situation available to them. For 40 years the monument stood undisturbed. Then in the 1970s the park service began restoring some of the old buildings in town. They put it away in a maintenance yard or it stayed for five years. When they put it back in its original location they made one notable change. It was covered with a wooden box.