Public Design Commission Votes To Remove Thomas Jefferson Statue From City Hall

CBS New York

November 16, 2021

An 1833 statue of Thomas Jefferson will be booted from New York’s City Hall and sent on long-term loan to the New York Historical Society, after some City Council members objected to its presence because Jefferson owned hundreds of slaves.

The Public Design Commission voted unanimously on Monday to remove the statue from the City Council chambers at City Hall. Instead, it will be on display with context about Jefferson’s legacy in the historical society’s lobby for six months and in its library reading room after that, museum officials said.

The statue by artist Pierre-Jean David d’Angers is a plaster model of the bronze Jefferson statue in the Capitol rotunda of the U.S. Congress.

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