On July 28, a motorist on Greene Street lost control of 2009 Crown Victoria near the Seventh Street intersection and plowed into the monument to Augustan Emily Tubman, a philanthropist and abolitionist.
The monument, which was installed in 1994 on the 200th anniversary of Tubman’s birth, was leveled.
According to the police report, Donnell Fleming, 42, claimed his steering system failed, causing him to crash into the monument. The report states that Fleming was given a breathalyzer and released, but it also said that the car did not experience a mechanical failure.
Fleming was cited as at-fault, according to the police report.
This is not the first time that a motorist has destroyed city-managed property in the form of a historic structure. In December of 2016, a motorist lost control and leveled the famed “Haunted Pillar,” at the corner of Broad Street and Fifth Street, according to press reports at the time.
In that case, the city quietly moved the remnants of the historic pillar and has never moved to replace the relic that many found offensive due to stories and legends that tied it the era of slavery in the Deep South, according to local resident Kevin de l’Aigle.
de l’Aigle says that the monument to Tubman is a completely different matter, and the city should move quickly to replace it.
“Emily Tubman is responsible for both educational and religious institutions in Augusta, she was forward-thinking and progressive in the 1830s. She was really amazing, for a woman of her stature to go to such great lengths to free her slaves should mean something to all of us. We should always honor her name and memory,” de l’Aigle said.
Admittingly, de l’Aigle has an uphill battle to get the city to move quickly to restore the monument, as he has already been told that he should contact a local historic preservation group as opposed to the Augusta Commission to get the city to get a project underway.
“It’s going to be a fight, I know it is going to be a fight, I have been trying for months to just get the city to maintain the monument. We can’t just let them scoop up what is left and just move on and forget about it,” de l’Aigle.
More: Something You Might Not Have Known: Emily Tubman
Doug Herman is another area resident who lamented its loss.
“My favorite memorial is gone,” according to Herman, whose mother attended Tubman. “I had planned to have my pressure wash company clean the monument.”
According to the Historical Monument Database, technically, the monument was financed and donated to the city of Augusta by the State of Georgia, and it has resided on city owned land and has been maintained by the city for the past 28 years.
According to local personal injury attorney Garon Muller, the city should have little problem making a claim against the driver, Fleming’s insurance policy.
“The law in Georgia is that the minimum policy limit is $25,000 for property damage,” Muller said.
Even if the monument is not owned outright by the city, according to Muller, the city can claim “adverse possession” since they have been responsible for the monument for more than 20 years.
There is, Muller warns, a two-year statute of limitations for the city to act. Therefore, if the city does not follow up on an insurance claim, an alternate funding source will be needed to replace the monument.
Resident Stephanie Herzberg says that she will do anything to help de l’Aigle get the monument to Emily Tubman restored.
“I was devastated when I went down and saw what happened. Emily Tubman is such a significant part of our history in Augusta. I have one of the original oil paintings of that monument hanging in my bedroom. It would be a travesty to not replace that memorial,” Herzberg said.
Scott Hudson is the senior reporter for The Augusta Press. Reach him at scott@theaugustapress.com
