Jenna’s petition stalls. Blue Lives Matter outpaces Black Lives Matter. But in 2023 a new surge of activism reignites the controversy. What will happen to Jessamine County’s Confederate statue? And what does the statue’s fate reveal about the soul of my divided southern community?

I learn that my neighbor, a transplant from Canada, is leveraging the statue in an effort to sweep local Republican candidates to victory.

With the clock ticking, a local archaeologist unearths a long-buried narrative that threatens to destabilize the statue’s foundations.

A sixteen-year-old homeschooler teams up with an interracial coalition of pastors. Local authorities feel the pressure.

A woman makes a horrifying discovery buried in her backyard. A Black preacher reckons with his grandfather’s story of a lynching.

A local citizen defends the statue with a gun on his hip. David investigates the bizarre origins of the statue’s rebel identity.

A Black Lives Matter protest in 2020 sparks a campaign to destroy Jessamine County’s Confederate statue. David tells the story of a profoundly disturbing secret hidden in the county’s past.

It’s a Civil War statue unlike any other—one with a rebel belt and a Union hat. Join historian David Swartz on a podcast investigation of his hometown Confederate statue that stands on Main Street in Jessamine County, Kentucky.