Theodore Roosevelt's monument in front of the American Museum of Natural History in Manhattan was removed Wednesday and will be relocated to the Theodore Roosevelt Presidential Library in Medora, North Dakota.
The bronze monument, erected in 1940, depicts the 26th President of the United States sitting on horseback, with an indigenous man walking on one side of the president, and a Black man on the other. Activists for many years have opposed this monument, considering it a symbol of colonial expansion and racial discrimination.
The museum expressed respect to Roosevelt’s heritage, but said that “the statue itself communicates a racial hierarchy the Museum and members of the public have long found disturbing.”
The 10-foot-tall monument was dismantled after staying for several weeks covered with an orange tarp. According to The New York Post, the removal cost the authorities $2 million.