Youngkin’s pick for Historic Resources Board under fire for defending the Confederacy

Gov. Glenn Youngkin is facing calls to withdraw his recent appointee to the Historic Resources Board due to her recent comments defending the Confederacy and criticizing former President Abraham Lincoln’s role in the Civil War.

Youngkin announced last week he had appointed Ann McLean, a historian and the founder of a Christian school in Richmond, to serve on the Board of Historic Resources. Shortly after, she came under fire for previous remarks defending Confederate statues on a Richmond radio show. On Monday, she returned to the radio show and seemingly doubled down.

“I think the appropriate reaction here is disgust,” Del. Cia Price, a Newport News Democrat and member of the Virginia Legislative Black Caucus, said Tuesday.

McLean, who founded Hunter Classical Christian School in Richmond, could not be reached for comment.

On Monday’s radio show, McLean said southern states had the right to secede and did not commit treason. She also criticized Lincoln for calling up troops against the Confederates.

“Invasion, just like we see Russia invading Ukraine, invading a new territory was wrong,” she said. “And so many people want to just flatten the whole Civil War to slavery, and of course we know slavery is not good. But I think slavery would have been outlawed in the South within five or 10 years, but they wanted to do it on their time.”

During her previous appearance on the show in December, she objected to the removal of Confederate statues and said they were built to tell the “true story of the American South” and its fight for the “sovereignty of each state and constitutional law.”

In a statement to The Virginian-Pilot, Youngkin spokesperson Macaulay Porter said the governor “supports preserving the history of Virginia and believes that the referenced statues should be preserved in a museum or another facility.”

Porter, however, noted that Youngkin disagreed with McLean’s comments on Ukraine and believed the comparison was inappropriate.

In Youngkin’s statement last week, which announced several appointments including McLean’s, he said he was “confident in each member’s ability to establish a best-in-class legacy for our administration.”

Jonathan White, associate professor of American Studies at Christopher Newport University, said he was confused by McLean’s remarks.

“The Confederacy fired the first shots; the Confederacy broke away and started the conflict,” said White, whose research focuses on the Civil War. “So under the definition of treason laid out in the Constitution, there is no doubt in my mind that fighting against the United States was treason.”

The professor also said he did not believe it was accurate to compare the Confederacy to Ukraine, which was invaded by Russia in February.

“Lincoln was reacting, which is very different from what (Russian President) Vladimir Putin has done in Ukraine, where he has been the aggressor,” White said.

In a statement this week, Democratic Party of Virginia Chairwoman Susan Swecker said McLean was “ignorant of history” and unqualified to serve on the board.

The board considers nominations of historic sites for listing in the Virginia Landmarks Register and the National Register of Historic Places, and handles updates to historical highway markers or new preservation easements.

Swecker further called on the governor to withdraw her appointment.

The Republican Party of Virginia declined to comment on McLean’s appointment.

Price said she believed McLean should be replaced. But the delegate doesn’t expect that will happen.

“We’ve asked for apologies and removals for previous folks, and he’s just gone on to appoint people who are in the same vein,” she said.

Throughout his six months in office, Youngkin has had multiple controversies surrounding race.

Youngkin created national waves last January when he launched an email tip line for parents to report “divisive” teaching practices in schools. He said at the time it would help his administration root out practices such as critical race theory, which teaches that long-standing structural racism contributes to racial disparities.

Del. Don Scott, D-Portsmouth, later rebuked Youngkin from the House floor and said the governor was using racial issues to divide Virginians.

More recently, Virginia Department of Health Commissioner Colin Greene, who was appointed by Youngkin, came under fire for an interview with The Washington Post in which he denied that racism has resulted in a public health crisis among minorities and downplayed the role race plays in health disparities.

The Virginia State Board of Health formally reprimanded Greene and called his statements an “embarrassment.”

Dr. Holly Puritz, a member of the board, told The Virginian-Pilot that Greene’s remarks were disappointing.

Puritz added that the governor has the privilege to appoint whoever he chooses to positions. But she said she hoped he would select people who wanted to represent and work for all Virginians — and who would choose their words carefully.

“Words matter,” she said.

Katie King, katie.king@virginiamedia.com