Explore the Bill Dorris of this artwork, Nathan Bedford Forrest Statue.
The owner of the statue and the land it sat on, Bill Dorris, was a Nashville lawyer and businessman. He regularly gave media interviews defending his right to display the Forrest statue and his flags. Although Dorris denied being a racist, he called slavery a form of "social security" for African Americans.Dorris stated that he had "turned down requests from the KKK to hold rallies" at the site. Dorris also argued that removing the statue would be detrimental to Nashville's tourism industry, and compared it to historic plantations in the Nashville area like the Travellers Rest, The Hermitage, and the Belle Meade Plantation.When the Metro Region suggested adding vegetation, Dorris told WPLN that "I've got some 1,800-foot flagpoles. I could put them up starting tomorrow. They're going to have to build a helluva wall and a helluva bunch of trees to block all that."Dorris told Canada's National Post paper that he believed that the people against Confederate monuments in New Orleans were "cane blacks," who were probably "illegals to start with," in regards to controversies over Confederate monuments in that city. Dorris also said in that interview "Slavery was never an issue. Nathan Bedford Forrest was not a racist" and again called slavery a form of "social security" for African Americans, "a cradle-to-the-grave proposition."Dorris died on November 24, 2020. His will left the statue and its site to the Battle of Nashville Trust, which opted to remove it. In addition, Dorris left approximately $5,000,000 in a trust for his dog, LuLu.The statue was removed on December 7, 2021.
KKK Travellers Rest Nathan Bedford Forrest Confederate Belle Meade Plantation WPLN The Hermitage New Orleans National Post