Jefferson Statue's New Home Uncertain After Vote To Remove

NEW YORK CITY — A statue of Thomas Jefferson no longer has a home in the City Council's chamber — but whether it remains in City Hall or goes to a museum remains as unsettled as the debate over the slave-holding Founding Father's legacy.

A nearly two-hour debate over Jefferson and his place in the heart of New York City's government unfolded on a grid of Zoom videos Monday. The city's Public Design Commission sounded off and heard testimony about the controversial Jefferson statue.

Ultimately, board members unanimously voted to remove the 1833 statue from its long-held home in the Council chamber.

"This was a slaveholder who owned over 600 human beings," said Council Member Adrienne Adams.

But many board members and public commenters saw Jefferson's legacy as greater than being a slaveholder.

Jefferson wrote the Declaration of Independence — the document with the words and ideal "all men are created" that shaped American democracy and ultimately led to the emancipation of enslaved people, they argued.

"By removing his statue we would forget how America’s racist proslavery leaders came to repudiate Jefferson’s Declaration as a collection of “self-evident lies” -- standing rebukes to their barbaric cause," wrote historian Sean Wilentz, in a letter to the commission. "Nor can we forget that Jefferson’s enduring words and actions set the very standard by which we find him wanting, the standard to which Dr. King appealed when he quoted Jefferson on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial."

Wilentz joined a group of historians sent a letter to the design commission arguing the statue should be moved to another part of City Hall.

Commission members held off the original proposal to send the statue to the New-York Historical Society. Signe Nielsen, the board's chair, said they shouldn't make a rash decision on where to send the statue.

But she said they gave themselves a "short leash" time-wise to make a final decision.

“It is a piece of public art," she said. "It is under our jurisdiction. And we need to be thoughtful about where it might go."