Texas board unanimously votes to remove Confederate plaque from state Capitol

Texas officials unanimously voted on Friday to remove a Confederate plaque from the state Capitol that claims slavery was not the root cause of the Civil War.

The Preservation Board, which is in charge of historical monuments at the Capitol, voted to take down the “Children of the Confederacy Creed,” The Dallas Morning News reported. 

{mosads}The plaque, which was been on display in the Capitol since 1959, pledges “to study and teach the truths of history (one of the most important of which is, that the War between the States was not a rebellion, nor was its underlying cause to sustain slavery).”

Texas state Rep. Eric Johnson (D) launched the formal process to remove the plaque last year, and state Rep. Jeff Leach (R), a member of the board, made the motion in Friday’s session, the newspaper reported.

The six-person Preservation Board includes Gov. Greg Abbott (R) and Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick (R), as well as the Speaker, one state senator, one state representative and one member of the public. Board members had previously called to remove the plaque due to its historical inaccuracy.

At least 113 Confederate monuments have been removed in the U.S. since 2015, according to a 2016 report from activist organization Southern Poverty Law Center.

The effort to remove Confederate monuments saw renewed attention in June 2015, following a mass shooting at a historic African-American church in Charleston, S.C., that left nine dead.