Malika Fortier doesn’t think the first grand wizard of the Ku Klux Klan is someone to celebrate.

Fortier is leading a charge against the construction of a monument in honor of Nathan Bedford Forrest in her hometown of Selma, Ala. Forrest, a Confederate general hailed by some as a Civil War hero, is believed to be the first national leader of the Klan. Fortier calls the proposed monument “boldly racist.” On Tuesday, she helped organize a protest and turned in a Change.org petition with more than 325,000 signatures to the Selma city council. Her efforts paid off; the city council reportedly voted Tuesday night to halt all work on the statue until the courts decide who owns the property where the monument would be based—the city or a Civil War historical society....