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Jefferson statue faces ouster from New York’s City Hall

October 14, 2021 Karen Matthews, Associated Press
In this July 14, 2010, file photo, a statue of Thomas Jefferson, right, stands in New York's City Hall Council Chamber. The 1833 statue will be taken out of New York's City Hall in the coming days and sent to the New-York Historical Society as a long-term loan, capping longstanding efforts to remove the founding father's likeness because he owned slaves. AP Photo/Richard Drew, File
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An 1833 statue of Thomas Jefferson will be taken out of New York’s City Hall in the coming days and sent to a museum, capping longstanding efforts to remove the founding father’s likeness because he owned slaves.

Asked about the statue on Thursday, Mayor Bill de Blasio said he understood why Jefferson’s history as a slaveowner “profoundly bothers people, and why they find it’s something that can’t be ignored.” The statue has stood in the room where the City Council meets.

A little-known city board called the Public Design Commission is expected to approve the statue’s move on Monday from the City Council Chamber to the New-York Historical Society as a long-term loan.

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The Black, Latino and Asian Caucus of the Council said in a statement the city government should “resolve that the individuals memorialized within the confines of our People’s House be reflective not only of the best traditions of our city’s history and its diversity but unquestionable character.”

Jefferson, the nation’s third president, has become a contentious figure in recent years as advocates for racial justice have demanded the removal of statues of Confederate generals and others who carried out racist policies.

Although Jefferson wrote that “all men are created equal” in the Declaration of Independence, he did not support the emancipation of enslaved Africans and owned hundreds of slaves himself.

City Hall’s Jefferson statue is a painted plaster model of the statue by French sculptor Pierre-Jean David d’Angers that stands in the Capitol rotunda of the U.S. Congress. It depicts the founding father with a pen in one hand and the Declaration of Independence in the other.

A spokesperson for the New-York Historical Society said the statue may be part of an exhibit in the future.


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2 Comments

  2. cathylovesyou

    Well Mr. M you never research anything that the Socialist say in their attempts to take down our country and convert it to Communism, your chosen party. Jefferson included purposely into the Constitutions that would give voting rights to Blacks he wasn’t bias however like so many countries before America was discovered invaded their neighbors ( very much so in Africa) and making the losers slaves. Mr. M remember the De Mille movies whereby the winning general paraded the Slaves in front of all to show his spoils of victory, which before Spain sailed and discovered America using the famous Captain Christiforo Colon from Italy. What a J

    October 15, 2021 at 9:59 am
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