Editing Richmond, Virginia (section)

=== 21st century ===
[[File:RVA 2020 MDPC (50041262732).jpg|thumb|A formerly-focal point of [[Monument Avenue]], the [[Robert E. Lee Monument (Richmond, Virginia)|Robert E. Lee Monument]] was removed in 2021, following the protests of [[List of Confederate monuments and memorials in Virginia|Confederate monuments in Virginia]].]]By the beginning of the 21st century, the population of the greater [[Greater Richmond Region|Richmond metropolitan area]] had reached approximately 1,100,000, although the population of the city itself had declined to less than 200,000. On November 2, 2004, former Virginia governor [[L. Douglas Wilder]] was elected as the city's first directly elected mayor in over 60 years.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Douglas Wilder, Politician born |url=https://aaregistry.org/story/douglas-wilder-born/ |access-date=November 20, 2024 |website=African American Registry |language=en}}</ref>

Most of the statues honoring Confederate leaders such as the [[Robert E. Lee Monument (Richmond, Virginia)|Robert E. Lee monument]] on [[Monument Avenue]] were removed during or after the [[George Floyd protests]] in June 2020 following the [[Murder of George Floyd|killing of George Floyd]] by Minneapolis police officer [[Derek Chauvin|Derek M. Chauvin]]. The city removed the last Confederate statue, honoring Confederate General [[A. P. Hill|General A. P. Hill]], on December 12, 2022. The [[Arthur Ashe Monument|only statue remaining on Monument Avenue]] is of Arthur Ashe, the pioneering Black tennis player. The [[Bill Robinson|Bill "Bojangles" Robinson]] monument in Jackson Ward was untouched during the protests and remained in place.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Evans |first1=Whittney |last2=Streever |first2=David |date=September 8, 2021 |title=Virginia's Massive Robert e. Lee Statue Has Been Removed |url=https://www.npr.org/2021/09/08/1035004639/virginia-ready-to-remove-massive-robert-e-lee-statue-following-a-year-of-lawsuit#:~:text=Northam%20announced%20plans%20to%20remove,the%2061%2Dfoot%2Dtall%20memorial |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211110072751/https://www.npr.org/2021/09/08/1035004639/virginia-ready-to-remove-massive-robert-e-lee-statue-following-a-year-of-lawsuit#:~:text=Northam%20announced%20plans%20to%20remove,the%2061%2Dfoot%2Dtall%20memorial |archive-date=November 10, 2021 |access-date=November 10, 2021 |website=NPR}}</ref><ref>Gregory S. Schneider. Washington Post reporter. ( January 2, 2023). "White contractors wouldn't remove Confederate statues. So a Black man did it.". [https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/white-contractors-wouldn-t-remove-confederate-statues-so-a-black-man-did-it/ar-AA15T0tX MSN website] Retrieved January 3, 2023.</ref>