After standing for 141 years, Boston has removed a statue showing a formerly enslaved man kneeling before President Abraham Lincoln.
As reported by CNN, the Boston mayor's office confirmed the removal of the "Emancipation Group" statue, which had stood in Park Square since 1879.
A spokeswoman for Mayor Marty Walsh said in a statement to CNN: "We're pleased to have taken it down this morning.
"As expressed by so many during the public process this year, we fully agree that the statue should be relocated to a new publicly accessible location where its history and context can be better explained.
"The decision for removal acknowledges the statue's role in perpetuating harmful prejudices and obscuring the role of Black Americans in shaping the nation's fight for freedom."
Per the Boston Arts and Culture website, the statue in question is a replica of one that stands in Washington D.C., and shows President Lincoln in a suit standing above a raggedly dressed former slave kneeling among his broken shackles.
The statue also shows Lincoln holding the Emancipation Proclamation in his right hand.
The original statue was created by Boston artist Thomas Ball (1819–1911) and was completed in 1876.
Upon its creation, abolitionist and statesman Frederick Douglass said of the statue in a 1876 letter to the editor of the National Republic:
"Admirable as is the monument by Mr. Ball in Lincoln park, it does not, as it seems to me, tell the whole truth, and perhaps no one monument could be made to tell the whole truth of any subject which it might be designed to illustrate."
The statue's removal comes after months-long nationwide movement to have symbols of the Confederacy - considered racist by many - to be removed.
CNN reports that there has always been "criticism of the statue", but a local petition started back in June renewed interest in its removal.
The petition was started by Boston area actor and activist Tory Bullock, and received over 12,700 signatures.
Bullock was present at the statue's removal, and later told CNN affiliate WBZ: "It's an amazing funeral, I'm here to provide a silent eulogy for this piece of artwork that's been here for 141 years.
"I'm proud, I'm Black and I'm young. This image has been doing a lot of disservice to African Americans in Boston and now it stops."
The statue will be held in storage until a new location has been determined.
