Fundraising for the bust was from the sale of 24 " x 30 " reproductions of a Forrest portrait at the Travellers Rest , a historic plantation in the Nashville area . The portrait by Joy Garner had been commissioned in 1973 for Travellers Rest by the Joseph E. Johnston camp of the Sons of Confederate Veterans . The bust was designed by Loura Jane Herndon Baxendale , whose husband was a member of the Sons of Confederate Veterans . It was installed in the capitol on November 5 , 1978 . On the day of the bust 's dedication , numerous African Americans protested at the capitol . More protests were organized by Black Tennesseans for Action in February 1979 after they were unsuccessful in gaining a meeting with Governor Lamar Alexander to discuss the issue . That month , the bust was " damaged after someone struck it in the head with a blunt object " . Soon after , two crosses were burned in Nashville , a symbolic intimidation associated with the historic Ku Klux Klan ; one of the crosses was burned outside the NAACP headquarters . In October 1980 , " Tex Moore , grand dragon of the Tennessee chapter of the Invisible Empire , Knights of the Ku Klux Klan , and others held a news conference in front of the bust . " In the wake of the 2015 Charleston church shooting , in which nine African Americans were murdered by a young white supremacist , Democratic Congressman Jim Cooper and state Representative Craig Fitzhugh suggested Forrest 's bust should be removed from the Tennessee capitol . Republican Governor Bill Haslam and Senator Bob Corker also agreed . However , its removal was postponed
Charleston church shooting
Charleston church shooting
Nathan Bedford Forrest Bust