Just because people don’t like something, doesn’t mean it’s no longer part of history.

Nick Anderson of the Washington Post reports.

William & Mary drops a Confederate emblem and moves a plaque

The College of William & Mary, one of the most historic locales in Virginia, said Friday it is scrubbing imagery of the Confederacy from its ceremonial silver mace and has removed a plaque honoring rebel soldiers from a prominent location in its iconic Wren Building.

With those moves, the prestigious public college in Williamsburg joined other institutions that have decided to remove Confederate emblems — or scale back their display — following the massacre in June at a historic black church in Charleston, S.C. A white man was arrested in the church shootings and faces federal hate crime charges.

South Carolina last month took down a Confederate battle flag that had flown for decades on the statehouse grounds. On Thursday, the University of Texas at Austin said it will move a statue of Confederate President Jefferson Davis from a significant outdoor location, where it had been since 1933, to an indoor historic exhibit.