A statue of former U.S. President Thomas Jefferson is pictured in the council chambers in City Hall after a vote to have it removed in the Manhattan borough of New York City, New York, U.S., October 19, 2021. REUTERS/Carlo Allegri
U.S. President Thomas Jefferson鈥檚 statue, a presence for more than a century in the New York City Council chamber, is coming down following a public commission reassessment of the legacy of the founding father who was also a slaveholder.
The New York City Public Design Commission voted unanimously on Monday to dismantle the 7-foot (2.13-meter) bronze likeness of Jefferson, which has watched over proceedings in the most populous U.S. city since 1915.
During the meeting, the commission also put aside making a decision on a proposal to lend the 187-year-old statue to the New-York Historical Society, leaving open the question of where it will ultimately reside. It is a plaster model of a statue still on display in the U.S. Capitol Rotunda.
鈥淛efferson embodied some of the most shameful parts of our country鈥檚 long and nuanced history,鈥� Councilperson Adrienne Adams, co-chair of the council鈥檚 Black, Latino and Asian Caucus, told the commission. 鈥淚t is time for the city to turn the page and move forward.鈥�
Similar monuments have become a target of anti-racism protests in recent years. Statues of Civil War Confederate leaders have also been dismantled.
Jefferson鈥檚 place in U.S. history is complex.
Having written that 鈥渁ll men are created equal鈥� as the primary author of the Declaration of Independence, he also enslaved more than 600 people and fathered at least six children with Sally Hemings, a woman he enslaved.
Not everyone supported the removal of the statue. Sean Wilentz, a American history professor at Princeton University, wrote in a letter read to the commission: 鈥淭he statue specifically honors Jefferson for his greatest contribution to America, indeed, to humankind.鈥�