Locating Slavery's Legacies @ Sewanee: The University of the South

Memorial Object

Object

Enslaver

Lost Cause

Toombs, Robert

the Toombs Oak

Historic sundial commemorating the former location of the Toombs Oak and its association with Robert Toombs

The sundial on the University of Georgia's north campus was originally erected in 1908 as a gift of that year's class, presented by class president J. Howard Neisler. The purpose of the sundial was to mark the former location of the Toombs Oak, a tree associated with UGA alumnus and Confederate Secretary of State Robert Toombs.

In 1971, the timekeeping face of the sundial mysteriously disappeared, leaving only the pedestal. In 2008--a century after the original installation--Neisler's descendants donated a replacement face for the sundial.

Brass sundial affixed to marble pillar

Neisler, J. Howard

Family of J. Howard Neisler

UGA class of 1908

1908

1971

2008

1890-1945: Era of the Lost Cause, Jim Crow legal segregation and discrimination, and organized anti-Black racism

1945-1976: Era of Civil Rights Movement and resistance to Civil Rights Movement

2000-Present: Confederate Memorialization in the Era of Universities Studying Slavery and the Black Lives Matter Movement

Class of 1908, University of Georgia

University of Georgia; Athens, Georgia

Red & Black newspaper article on sundial replacement

Altered - Destroyed