Last June, the New York City Public Design Commission gave the final approval to remove the Theodore Roosevelt Statue from the entrance of the American Museum of Natural History. This followed a unanimous vote which was taken in May by Community Board 7’s Preservation Committee to have the Equestrian Statue of Roosevelt removed. Now we know where the statue is going: Medora, North Dakota, where it will be “recontextualized with input from Indigenous and Black people, historians, scholars and artists,” the New York Times first reported.
Advertisement
The American Museum of Natural History began the relocation effort in June 2020 following growing protests for racial justice paired with an increased national focus on the removal of controversial figures. “The Statue has long been controversial because of the hierarchical composition that places one figure on horseback and the others walking alongside, and many of us find its depictions of the Native American and African figures and their placement in the monument racist,” read a statement by the AMNH when they first proposed the change.
There has also been significant public opposition to move the statue. Last June we reported the protest led by the New York Young Republican Group which took place in front of the museum. Other objectors launched petitions on change.org – while others voiced their concerns in our comments section.
The statue has been vandalized on multiple occasions, including last month when red paint was sprayed on the statue, leading the NYPD to station a police vehicle at the site. City workers used a power washer with soap to clean it off after the incident. The statue was also defaced with red paint in October 2017.
“Museums are supposed to do hard things,” said Edward F. O’Keefe, the chief executive of the Theodore Roosevelt Presidential Library Foundation, in a statement on Friday. “Our job is to forthrightly examine history to understand the present and make a better future.”
Advertisement
The library in Medora, North Dakota is expected to open in 2026. While the statue still stands at the AMNH with no official removal date set, it will be put in storage until it’s redisplayed at the library. Also included in the O’Keefe statement from Friday was a quote from Theodore Roosevelt’s great-great grandson, Theodore Roosevelt V, which read, “It is fitting that the statue is being relocated to a place where its composition can be recontextualized to facilitate difficult, complex and inclusive discussions.”
The Theodore Roosevelt Equestrian Statue was commissioned in 1925 and designed by American sculptor James Earle Fraser. The statue has stood on the steps of the museum, overlooking Central Park since its unveiling in 1940.
Absolute idiocy to remove this statue! Are they going to put Theodore Roosevelt Park in storage or move it to North Dakota? Stupid people are in charge of NYC. Next they will return the Statue of Liberty to France!!!
This is so unfortunate. It is our lose. If people would start to learn to appreciate our past and be able to understand the context that a work of art was created in, we’d all be living in a much better world. Every culture expresses what they find beautiful in their art. All we have to do is visit the Metropolitan Museum if Art and look at different cultures art. The is such beauty in say, Islamic art and yet we’re conditioned to think that they are heathens and butchers. Yes, there will always be some rotten apples in a bushel, but why judge a whole group of people became of some bad traits in a few? You also need to think about how the media influences what we think. I wouldn’t take what they say as a fact, do some research and then make up your mind based on that. We all have to take some responsibility for the way we think. That is truly the only way to make a choice.
Whoa. It seems Laura Marrs skipped spelling at Doctor school.
They couldn’t
“recontextualized with input from Indigenous and Black people, historians, scholars and artists”
Right where it is now?
Well, at least the UWS gets the Thomas Jefferson statue from City Hall.
Spineless and no balls of the those officials from the Museum of Natural History. They caved in to
woke culture. They want to erase the history of the USA. I feel sorry for the next generations to come as they would not know the full history of this great nation.
I get it. This is not a statue of Theodore Roosevelt alone, where you might celebrate him as a true founder of the U.S. conservation movement. The U.S. Department of the Interior website writes: “After becoming president in 1901, Roosevelt used his authority to establish 150 national forests, 51 federal bird reserves, four national game preserves, five national parks and 18 national monuments on over 230 million acres of public land.” T.R. deserves all the praise in that regard we can give him.
But this statue is something else again — on horseback, with figures below him, almost dipped under him, representing the Native American and African continents. Whatever else, it’s reinforcing a lost hierarchy that doesn’t belong in a public place. I used to love that statue as a kid on my trips to the museum. Not anymore. Bring on an open competition for something better, something new, something fair. Our kids deserve it.
This city is run by mentally ill people. This is insanity.
If only the city
“The most effective way to destroy people is to deny and obliterate their own understanding of their history.” ? George Orwell.
When I first read this article’s title, I thought it was from The Onion or The Babylon Bee. This being contemporary NYC and particularly the UWS though, I definitely should have known better.
Shame on our country for giving in to the Neanderthals. Our past might not be perfect but that is how we learn. We can not learn while wearing rose colored glasses. Let’s not allow the bullies to run our lives and our children’s educational systems. Let’s stay smart!
Sad but not surprising that most people commenting here won’t address the blatant racism of this statue.
Do they understand how many of their members are infuriated by the removal of the iconic statue that symbolized nothing more Teddy Roosevelt and the museum.
Medora, ND has a population of 134. 134! This is the best place for the statue?!
Here’s a solution: Remove the Native American and African figures. This way, they aren’t “below” the president and the racism is removed. Done!
Yes! Remove them and place them atop two tall pillars flanking the equestrian statue of TR so that they’re looking down upon him. That should satisfy the more sensitive and triggered Karens amongst those who object to this classic work of art.
Can we do something about it? How about members request to stop it and threaten to cancel membership and donors would stop donations?