What you should know
- After a vote it was decided to remove the statue of Thomas Jefferson, built in 1833, which is located in the City Hall of the City of New York. This as part of the long-standing efforts to remove the image of the founding father because he had slaves.
- A little-known city board, called the Public Design Commission, voted Monday to move the statue from the City Hall Chamber.
- New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio said he understood why Jefferson’s story as a slave owner “deeply upsets people, and why they find it to be something that cannot be ignored.”
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NEW YORK – The 1833 statue of Thomas Jefferson in New York City Hall will be removed following a vote by a city commission. An action that is part of the long-standing efforts to eliminate the image of the founding father because he had slaves.
Mayor Bill de Blasio said during the press conference Thursday that he understood why Jefferson’s story as a slave owner “deeply upsets people and why they find it to be something that cannot be ignored.” The statue is in the room where the City Council meets.
A little-known city board, called the Public Design Commission, voted unanimously Monday to move the statue from the City Council Chamber. The decision on its new location will be made later, the commission decided after rigorous public testimony.
The Council’s Black, Latino and Asian Caucus said in a statement that the city government must “resolve that the people commemorated within the confines of our House of the People reflect not only the best traditions in the history of our city and its diversity. but also its unquestionable character. ”
Jefferson, the nation’s third president, has become a contentious figure in recent years as advocates of 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.
The Jefferson City Hall Statue is a painted plaster model of the statue by French sculptor Pierre-Jean David d’Angers found in the rotunda of the United States Congress Capitol. It represents the founding father with a pen in one hand and the Declaration of Independence in the other.
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