Theodore Roosevelt statue removed from American Museum of Natural History

Roosevelt went on a tough experience.

A statue of Theodore Roosevelt that has stood in entrance of the American Museum of Pure Historical past in Manhattan for greater than 80 years was hauled away Wednesday, photographs present.

The bronze monument depicting the nation’s twenty sixth president on a horse flanked by an African man and a Native American man — which has sparked protests for glorifying colonialism and racism — was yanked out with a crane simply after midnight, forsaking solely its concrete pedestal.

The statue of Teddy Roosevelt is yanked away by a crane.

REUTERS

A crane eliminated the statue of President Theodore Roosevelt from the American Museum of Pure Historical past on Jan. 19, 2022.

REUTERS/Caitlin Ochs

The statue had been in entrance of the museum for over 80 years.

Robert Miller

The statue had been embroiled in controversy and up to date protests.

REUTERS

The controversial effigy shall be despatched to a library in North Dakota on a long-term mortgage, officers have mentioned.

The $2 million removing, carried out by the museum and town, comes after the New York Metropolis Public Design Fee voted in June to relocate the monument.

Final month, the museum lined the 10-foot-tall statue with an orange tarp forward of its cargo to the Theodore Roosevelt Presidential Library in Medora, North Dakota.

One of many ex-president’s descendants, Theodore Roosevelt V, cheered the removing plan final 12 months, saying it’s “becoming that the statue is being relocated to a spot the place its composition will be re-contextualized to facilitate tough, complicated and inclusive discussions.”

The Teddy Roosevelt statue is secured earlier than it’s lifted.

REUTERS

Employees put up scaffolding across the Roosevelt statue earlier than it was eliminated.

Robert Miller

The statue is being despatched on a long-term mortgage to the Theodore Roosevelt Presidential Library in North Dakota.

Robert Miller

A wall and tarp encompass the place the statue was situated exterior the museum.

AP Picture/Mary Altaffer

Nonetheless, some critics referred to as the relocation a victory for cancel tradition — and a blow to historical past.

The statue got here underneath fireplace amid nationwide Black Lives Matter protests sparked by the police killing of George Floyd in Might 2020.