Lawmakers later decided to use a statue of educator and civil-rights leader Mary McLeod Bethune to represent the state. On July 7, Lake County commissioners reversed support they had given a year earlier to the Lake County Historical Society and Museum to house the Smith statute in the historic courthouse in Tavares. County commissioners said the anticipated arrival of the Smith statue in Lake County created divisions. The board argued that when Smith was born, Lake County was part of St. Johns County, which includes St. Augustine. The Smith statue has served as one of Florida’s two representatives in the National Statuary Hall since 1922.

As she approached the Old Lake County Courthouse, the fear she felt as a girl walking those same streets rushed through her body. A memorial for the Groveland Four was erected outside the Old Lake County Courthouse last year, when the young men were posthumously pardoned. "It's evil and wrong and we shouldn't have it here in our community," Hazelton said. In 2019 DeSantis officially requested the Kirby Smith statue be replaced by a statue of Dr. Mary McLeod Bethune, an African American civil rights activist and educator. During a 2019 Lake County Board of County Commissioners meeting, residents spoke for and against the statue.

CNN VideoTALLAHASSEE, Fla. - Mayors from across Lake County want Gov. Ron DeSantis to prevent the statue of a Confederate general that has represented Florida in the nations capital for nearly a century from being displayed in their community. A state panel last year considered proposals for relocating the Smith statue and backed a plan to move it to the Lake County museum. DeSantis sent a formal request July 10 to the architect of the U.S. Capitol to substitute the Bethune statue for the Smith likeness. The 9-foot marble statue of Bethune, under construction in Italy, is expected to arrive at the nations capital in 2020.

Ron DeSantis formally asked Wednesday that the statue of civil-rights leader and educator Mary McLeod Bethune replace the likeness of a Confederate general as a representative of Florida in the U.S. Capitol. DeSantis sent a letter to the architect of the U.S. Capitol officially requesting that the Bethune statue be substituted for the one of General Edmund Kirby Smith in National Statuary Hall, a change Florida lawmakers approved last year. Mary McLeod Bethune was an influential educator, leader and civil rights activist who became one of Floridas and our nations most influential leaders, DeSantis said in the release. He has represented Florida in the National Statuary Hall since 1922. This is a proud day for Florida and for the community that Dr. Bethune called home, Bob Lloyd, chairman of the Mary McLeod Bethune Statuary Fund, said in the governors pres release.