Removals of monuments and memorials in connection with the George Floyd protests
During the civil unrest that followed the murder of George Floyd in May 2020, a number of monuments and memorials associated with racial injustice were vandalized, destroyed or removed, or commitments to remove them were announced. This occurred mainly in the United States, but also in several other countries. Some of the monuments in question had been the subject of lengthy, years-long efforts to remove them, sometimes involving legislation and/or court proceedings. In some cases the removal was legal and official; in others, most notably in Alabama and North Carolina, laws prohibiting the removal of monuments were deliberately broken.
Initially, protesters targeted monuments related to the Confederate States of America. As the scope of the protests broadened to include other forms of systemic racism, many statues of other controversial figures such as Christopher Columbus, Junípero Serra, Juan de Oñate and Kit Carson were torn down or removed. Monuments to many other local figures connected with racism were also targeted by protestors.. Statues of American slave owners such as Thomas Jefferson, George Washington, Ulysses S. Grant, and Francis Scott Key were also vandalised or removed. According to the "Huffington Post", by October 2020 over a hundred Confederate symbols had been "removed, relocated or renamed", based on data from the Southern Poverty Law Center.
Some monuments that were not associated with the Confederacy, slavery, or racism were also targeted. In Madison, Wisconsin, the statue of abolitionist Hans Christian Heg, was torn down and thrown into a lake. Protestors also tore down a statue titled "Forward", by sculptor Jean Pond Miner, which depicts the embodiment of the Wisconsin state motto. In Portland, a statue of an elk was removed after several bonfires lit beneath the statue caused structural damage to the statue's base. A statue of York, a Black slave with the Lewis and Clark Expedition, was removed by the University of Portland after it was vandalised.
In the United Kingdom, removal efforts and vandalism focused on memorials to figures involved in the transatlantic slave trade, British colonialism, and eugenics. In Belgium, sculptures of King Leopold II were targeted due to his rule during the atrocities in the Congo Free State. In New Zealand, a statue of a British military officer John Hamilton was removed, and in India another colonial-era statue was relocated. In South Africa, a bust of Cecil Rhodes was decapitated, and a statue of the last president of the Orange Free State was taken down.
This list is limited to successful removals, and instances in which a person or body with authority has committed itself to removal. It does not include the many works that have been the subject of petitions, protests, defacement, or attempted removals, such as the Emancipation Memorial in Washington, D.C., and many statues of Leopold II in Belgium. It also does not include statues that fell or subject to attempted removals as a result of the Rhodes Must Fall movement that predates Floyd's murder by five years such as the statue of Cecil Rhodes at Oriel College, Oxford, England.
Sculptures and other monuments.
The following monuments and memorials were removed during the George Floyd protests, mainly due to their connections to racism. The majority are in the United States and mostly commemorate the Confederate States of America (CSA), but some monuments were also removed in other countries, for example the statues of slave traders in the United Kingdom.
Notes:
United States.
The following monuments and memorials were removed during the George Floyd protests due to their association with racism in the United States. Most commemorated people involved in the Lost Cause of the Confederacy, with others linked to the genocide of Indigenous people, Racial segregation in the United States and also other related issues. In a few instances, like the Montgomery County Confederate Soldiers Monument and the statue of John Mason, the monuments had already been moved from their original location, sometimes more than once, as different venues objected.
Confederate monuments.
The Confederate States of America fought a four-year war (the American Civil War) to preserve the institution of slavery. After its defeat, all enslaved African Americans were freed and became citizens with the same rights as whites. Confederate monuments commemorate politicians, Army officers, and soldiers of the Confederacy. Most are in the former CSA states.
This table does not include Virginia, which is in a second table that follows.
New Zealand.
Royal Navy officer John Fane Charles Hamilton, after whom the city of Hamilton is named, played a prominent part in the Tauranga campaign of the New Zealand Wars.
! colspan="2" | Monument/memorial
! Location
! Removal announced
! Removed
! Means of removal
! class="unsortable" | Notes
! class="unsortable" | ;templatestyles src="Template:Tooltip/styles.css" / ;Ref.
! ;hr ;
South Africa.
Statues that come down in South Africa were preceded by and done in the context of the Rhodes Must Fall movement that resulted in the removal of a statue of Cecil Rhodes at the University of Cape Town.
! colspan="2" | Monument/memorial
! Location
! Removal announced
! Removed
! Means of removal
! class="unsortable" | Notes
! class="unsortable" | ;templatestyles src="Template:Tooltip/styles.css" / ;Ref.
! Statue of Martinus Theunis Steyn ;hr ;
! Bust of Cecil Rhodes, at the Rhodes Memorial ;hr ;
India.
! colspan="2" | Monument/memorial
! Location
! Removal announced
! Removed
! Means of removal
! class="unsortable" | Notes
! class="unsortable" | ;templatestyles src="Template:Tooltip/styles.css" / ;Ref.
! Equestrian statue of Mark Cubbon ;hr ;
France.
On May 22, 2020, before the murder of George Floyd, two statues of Victor Schœlcher were torn down in Martinique, an overseas department of France. Further colonial monuments in the overseas departments were targeted later in the year and in 2021; those which were mutilated in the period after May 25, 2020, are listed here.
The French president Emmanuel Macron declared his opposition to removing statues relating to France's colonial history on June 14, 2020.
! colspan="2" | Monument/memorial
! Location
! Region
! Removal announced
! Removed
! Means of removal
! class="unsortable" | Notes
! class="unsortable" | ;templatestyles src="Template:Tooltip/styles.css" / ;Ref.
! 
! 
! Fort-de-France
! ;hr ;
! 
! ;hr ;
Barbados.
! colspan="2" | Monument/memorial
! Location
! Removal announced
! Removed
! Means of removal
! class="unsortable" | Notes
! class="unsortable" | ;templatestyles src="Template:Tooltip/styles.css" / ;Ref.
! ;hr ;
Canada.
In Canada, removed statues were attacked in a general anticolonialist context, rather than being directly linked to the typical BLM targets in Britain or the United States.
! colspan="2" | Monument/memorial
! Location
! Province
! Removal announced
! Removed
! Means of removal
! class="unsortable" | Notes
! class="unsortable" | ;templatestyles src="Template:Tooltip/styles.css" / ;Ref.
! 
! 
Ireland.
! colspan="2" | Monument/memorial
! Location
! Removal announced
! Removed
! Means of removal
! class="unsortable" | Notes
! class="unsortable" | ;templatestyles src="Template:Tooltip/styles.css" / ;Ref.
! "Égyptienne" and "Négresse" statues ;hr ;
Colombia.
! colspan="2" | Monument/memorial
! Location
! Department
! Removal announced
! Removed
! Means of removal
! class="unsortable" | Notes
! class="unsortable" | ;templatestyles src="Template:Tooltip/styles.css" / ;Ref.
! ;hr ;
Removals under consideration.
Some officials have announced their decisions to remove monuments under their jurisdiction, and are currently working to push through whatever legislative or permission barriers they need to accomplish their goals.
Other artworks.
United States.
! colspan="2" | Artwork
! City
! State
! Removal announced
! Removed
! Means of removal
! class="unsortable" | Notes
! class="unsortable" | ;templatestyles src="Template:Tooltip/styles.css" / ;Ref.
! Ceiling mural in the lobby of McGill–Toolen Catholic High School
! Fresco in Memorial Hall
! "Frank Rizzo Mural"
! "America Receiving the Gifts of Nations"
! Stained glass window in the Cathedral of the Rockies
! Four Confederate portraits in the United States Capitol
! Baker Memorial Library weather vane ;hr ;
United Kingdom.
! colspan="2" | Artwork
! Location
! Removal announced
! Removed
! Means of removal
! class="unsortable" | Notes
! class="unsortable" | ;templatestyles src="Template:Tooltip/styles.css" / ;Ref.
! Stained glass windows in Bristol Cathedral and St Mary Redcliffe
! Sir Ronald Fisher window at Gonville and Caius College ;hr ;
! Portraits of governors and directors of the Bank of England
France.
In metropolitan France, one of the few artworks connected to racism removed in this period is a mural paying tribute to George Floyd and Adama Traoré. The death of Adama Traoré in 2016 caused the "Justice pour Adama" movement against racism and police violence, which was reactivated in 2020, inspired by the Black Lives Matter movement in the United States.
! | Artwork
! City
! Département
! Removal announced
! Removed
! Means of removal
! class="unsortable" | Notes
! class="unsortable" | ;templatestyles src="Template:Tooltip/styles.css" / ;Ref.
! Mural in tribute to George Floyd and Adama Traoré
Plaques and signs.
United States.
! Plaque
! City
! State
! Removal announced
! Removed
! Means of removal
! class="unsortable" | Notes
! class="unsortable" | ;templatestyles src="Template:Tooltip/styles.css" / ;Ref.
! University of Alabama Confederate Army plaques
! Historic sign saying Bowling Green was the Confederate capital of Kentucky
! Plaque and stone that honored Stephen Douglas
! John H. Winder plaque
! Words engraved at the base of the Hannah Duston statue
! Woodrow Wilson's desk as Governor (plaque)
! Maryland State House plaque
! Plaques honoring Simon Baruch and Alexander Stephens ;hr ;Plaques honoring Matthew Fontaine Maury and Maupin-Maury House ;hr ;Plaque honoring surgeon John Syng Dorsey Cullen
United Kingdom.
! colspan="2" | Plaque
! Location
! Removal announced
! Removed
! Means of removal
! class="unsortable" | Notes
! class="unsortable" | ;templatestyles src="Template:Tooltip/styles.css" / ;Ref.
! 
! 
! 
Buildings.
The following buildings were destroyed, torn down, or heavily damaged during the George Floyd protests due to their perceived racist heritage:
! colspan="2" | Building
! City
! State
! Date of incident
! class="unsortable" | Notes
! class="unsortable" | ;templatestyles src="Template:Tooltip/styles.css" / ;Ref.
! Market House
! Memorial to the Women of the Confederacy
! Old Market House
References.
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