Fox News reported on proposed monument to black South Carolina Confederates. There actually were none.

Republican lawmakers are trying to erect a new Confederate monument in South Carolina to honor mythical black Confederate soldiers in the state

Written by Media Matters Staff

Published

Fox News Radio reported on a proposal by two Republican South Carolina lawmakers to erect a monument in honor of black Confederate soldiers, but according to a local newspaper, “records show the state never accepted nor recognized armed African-American soldiers during the Civil War,” a fact the Fox report did not mention.

During the segment, headlines anchor Kevin Battle reported that “Lawmakers in South Carolina want to erect a new monument at the State House to honor some state residents who were never recognized for their service to the Confederacy, but this monument is unlike the others and would honor African-American Confederate soldiers.” But The State, a South Carolina newspaper, reported that according to historians and other experts, there are no documented accounts of black soldiers fighting for the Confederacy in South Carolina. There are, however, records of the state refusing to accept black soldiers. Additionally, South Carolina enforced laws “which prohibited African-Americans from carrying guns in the state’s service throughout the war.” 

Fox hosts and contributors have repeatedly defended Confederate monuments and attacked those seeking to have them removed, claiming that taking down the statues is "history being erased," an attempt to "erase every shred of patriotism," and comparable to book burning and the Taliban.

From the January 2 edition of Sirius XM’s Fox News Headlines 24/7:

KEVIN BATTLE (FOX NEWS RADIO ANCHOR): Well, many Confederate monuments were torn down across the United States in 2017. Some were ordered removed by mayors or voted out by city councils. Others were torn down by protesters before any conversation could even begin. Well, the new year bring a new wrinkle in recognizing the history of the Civil War. Lawmakers in South Carolina want to erect a new monument at the State House to honor some state residents who were never recognized for their service to the Confederacy, but this monument is unlike the others and would honor African-American Confederate soldiers. One supporter says any black person who served in the Confederacy should be recognized. One opponent says the monument would only work if it also honors blacks who served in the Union as well. Let the discussion and the history lessons begin.