In honor of Black History Month, D.C. Del. Eleanor Holmes Norton has introduced a series of four bills to remove racially insensitive statues and memorials the across the District. These include the statue of Confederate General Albert Pike at Judiciary Square, the statue of President Andrew Jackson, an enslaver, in Lafayette Square, and the controversial Emancipation Memorial in Lincoln Park, depicting an African American man kneeling and in chains.

Protesters toppled the Pike statue over the summer, during demonstrations on the night of Juneteenth. As a Confederate general, Pike lost badly in battle and deserted his troops. He was charged with treason by Confederate leaders and, later, the United States government.

Congress authorized the construction of the 11-foot bronze statue in 1898, which was paid for by federal and private money, according to Norton. The statue was built on a pedestal at 3^rd and D streets NW.

“I oppose destroying Confederate statues, because I believe they should be moved to more appropriate settings, like museums, to avoid erasing an important part of history from which Americans must continue to learn,” Norton said in a statement.

If passed, the measure to remove the Pike statue and pedestal would grant the Secretary of the Interior authority to donate the statue to a museum. Norton first introduced the proposal in 2019.

The emancipation statue — which depicts a formerly enslaved person with shackles on his wrists kneeling before President Abraham Lincoln — would likewise be relocated to a museum with an explanation of its origin and meaning. 

“Although formerly enslaved Americans paid for this statue, the design and sculpting process was done without their input or participation in any way, and it shows,” Norton said in a press release. “The statue fails to note how enslaved African Americans pressed for their own emancipation.” 

Calls to remove the statue started last year when Marcus Goodwin, a local real-estate developer and former candidate for an at-large seat on the D.C. Council, started a petition seeking the monument’s removal. To date, it has more than 10,000 signatures. 

Protesters held a number of non-violent demonstrations near the statue throughout the summer, events that included debates over the merit of keeping the monument and its depiction of slavery in a public space as well as hosting a troupe of historical re-enactors to inform locals about its history.

“Does that man look free? He does not look free,” Arnetta Lee, a Black woman in her 60s and lifelong D.C. resident told DCist/WAMU last year. “A free man should be standing eye to eye. And if you’re the person that granted me my freedom, I should be happy. He still looks subservient … bowed down to someone who has positioned himself to have a lot of authority.”

Some locals wanted to see the statue moved into a museum. Gregory Carr, chair of Howard University’s department of Afro-American studies, told DCist/WAMU last year that the monument is worth preserving. 

“I think the Lincoln statue, maybe more than any other statue in the country, symbolizes all the arguments in one place,” he said.  

Goodwin, for his part, says he wants to see a dedication to Harriet Tubman replace the monument.

Previous calls to remove the statue have been met with opposition from some residents, both Black and white, who say it’s a positive depiction of Black people being freed from the shackles of slavery. Others point out that the labor of the enslaved that went into building the monument should not be overlooked.

The Emancipation Memorial was paid for by funds collected from formerly enslaved people, according to the National Park Service. The idea originated with Charlotte Scott, an African American woman from Virginia. She used the first $5 she earned after being freed to kickstart a fundraising campaign among formerly enslaved people that would consecrate Lincoln’s memory as the president who freed them. 

D.C. isn’t the only city with a controversial statue commemorating the 16th president. Boston dismantled its statue, a replica of sculptor Thomas Ball’s original in D.C., last year after it was similarly criticized for its depiction of formerly enslaved people.

 “At the end of last year, Boston removed its replica of the statue and plans to place it in a publicly accessible location where it can be better contextualized. It is time for Congress to place the original statue in a museum, too,” Norton said in the press release. 

Norton has also proposed removing the statue of President Andrew Jackson from its prominent position directly in front of the White House. Jackson, Norton said in press release, was an “unabashed racist.” Jackson owned 161 slaves at the time of his death, and he signed the Indian Removal Act of 1830, which lead to the deaths of thousands of Native Americans. “Jackson’s entire tenure is a shameful part of our history, and I will see to it that he is no longer honored with a statue in Lafayette Park,” said Norton.

Norton also proposed, together with Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-Md.), to remove the name of white supremacist Francis Newlands from the Chevy Chase Circle, on the D.C. / Md. border. The circle, on Connecticut Ave., has a fountain and a plaque dedicated to Newlands, a U.S. senator from Nevada from 1903 to 1917. Newlands was known for his racist views, and his effort to repeal the 15th amendment, which guarantees the right to vote, regardless of “race, color, or previous condition of servitude.” Neighbors have been lobbying for the removal of Newlands’ name for years.

Norton is also spearheading an effort to rename Melvin Hazen Park and the creek that runs through it — both of which are named for a segregationist local official. Hazen was president of the D.C. Board of Commissioners in the 1930s, and played a key role in the demolition of Reno City, a Black neighborhood in upper Northwest D.C. The area was razed, displacing hundreds of families, and paving the way for the construction of what is now Fort Reno Park, Deal Middle School, and Wilson High School. Norton wrote to National Park Service officials, requesting a name change for Melvin Hazen Park and its associated creek, which is a tributary of Rock Creek.

Debbie Truong contributed reporting.