The Statues Brought Down Since the George Floyd Protests Began

Alan Taylor
July 2, 2020
27 Photos
In Focus

In the widespread protests that followed the killing of George Floyd by Minneapolis police on May 25, statues of and memorials to Confederate soldiers and generals were vandalized or torn down. Some of the many statues of Christopher Columbus were targeted as well, as voices rose against historic and systemic racism and oppression. State and local governments then began acting to remove even more Confederate statues from public places. Collected below, images of just some of the dozens of statues that have been toppled, defaced, or slated for removal across the United States over the past month.

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Work crews prepare to remove the statue of Confederate General Stonewall Jackson in Richmond, Virginia, on July 1, 2020. Richmond Mayor Levar Stoney ordered the immediate removal of all Confederate statues in the city, saying he was using his emergency powers to speed up the healing process for the former capital of the Confederacy amid weeks of protests over police brutality and racial injustice. #

Steve Helber / AP

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The Stonewall Jackson statue is removed from Monument Avenue in Richmond, Virginia, on July 1, 2020. #

Ryan M. Kelly / AFP / Getty

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In Frankfort, Kentucky, a statue of Confederate President Jefferson Davis is removed from the rotunda of the capitol building on June 13, 2020. #

Bryan Woolston / Reuters

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A caged statue of Confederate President Jefferson Davis is hoisted out of the state capital in Frankfort, Kentucky, on June 13, 2020. #

Bryan Woolston / Reuters

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Traffic cones and a rope remain on the statue of Confederate General J. E. B. Stuart the morning after protesters attempted to topple it in Richmond, Virginia, on June 22, 2020. #

Jay Paul / Reuters

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An unidentified man walks past a toppled statue of Charles Linn, a city founder who was in the Confederate navy, in Birmingham, Alabama, on June 1, 2020. #

Jay Reeves / AP

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The head of a statue of Christopher Columbus was pulled off amid protests against racial inequality in Boston on June 10, 2020. #

Brian Snyder / Reuters

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A Confederate statue is seen hanging from a street post in Raleigh, North Carolina, on June 19, 2020. #

Jason Debruyn / WUNC via Reuters

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The statue of a Confederate soldier and plinth sit on a flatbed truck at the Old Capitol in Raleigh, North Carolina, on June 21, 2020. After protesters pulled down two smaller statues on the same monument, North Carolina Governor Roy Cooper ordered the removal of several other monuments to the Confederacy, citing public-safety concerns. #

Allen G. Breed / AP

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Splashed paint covers the Jefferson Davis Memorial in Richmond, Virginia, on June 7, 2020. Davis was the president of the Confederate States of America during the Civil War. #

J. Scott Applewhite / AP

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A statue of Jefferson Davis lies on the street after protesters pulled it down in Richmond, Virginia, on June 10, 2020. #

Parker Michels-Boyce / AFP / Getty

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People cheer as workers remove a Confederate monument from Decatur Square in Decatur, Georgia, on June 18, 2020. #

Andisheh Nouraee (@ANDISHEHNOURAEE) via Reuters

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Houston city workers remove a statue of the Confederate soldier Dick Dowling from Hermann Park on June 17, 2020. #

Mark Felix / AFP / Getty

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A statue of Christopher Columbus lies facedown after being toppled by protesters on the grounds of the state capitol in St. Paul, Minnesota, on June 10, 2020. The protest was led by Mike Forcia, a member of the Bad River Band of Lake Superior Chippewa, who called the statue a symbol of genocide. #

Stephen Maturen / Getty

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A statue of Christopher Columbus, toppled by protesters, is loaded onto a truck on the grounds of the state capitol in St. Paul, Minnesota, on June 10, 2020. #

Stephen Maturen / Getty

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People watch as protesters pull down a statue of Confederate General Albert Pike during an event to mark Juneteenth in Washington, D.C., on June 19, 2020. #

Jonathan Ernst / Reuters

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Fire burns on a toppled statue of Albert Pike in Washington, D.C., on June 19, 2020. #

Jonathan Ernst / Reuters

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A view of the statue of Albert Pike in Washington, D.C., on June 20, 2020, the day after it was toppled #

Mpi34 / MediaPunch / IPx

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A statue of the former vice president and slavery advocate John C. Calhoun is removed from the monument in his honor in Marion Square in Charleston, South Carolina, on June 24, 2020. #

Sean Rayford / Getty

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A statue of Christopher Columbus rests in a shallow pond after protesters pulled it off its pedestal and dragged it across a street in Richmond, Virginia, on June 9, 2020. #

Parker Michels-Boyce / AFP / Getty

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A statue from the Howitzer Monument, erected in 1892 to commemorate a Confederate artillery unit, lies on the ground after being toppled by protesters in Richmond, Virginia, on June 17, 2020. #

Jay Paul / Reuters

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A vandalized statue of Christopher Columbus is seen at the Bayside Marketplace in downtown Miami after a protest against racial inequality on June 10, 2020. #

Marco Bello / Reuters

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A replica of Thomas Ball's Emancipation Memorial, erected in 1879, stands in Park Square in Boston on June 16, 2020. On June 30, the Boston Art Commission, supported by Mayor Martin Walsh, voted to remove the controversial statue from the park. #

Joseph Prezioso / AFP / Getty

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This photo shows the removal of a Confederate statue in Greenville, North Carolina, on June 22, 2020. Part of the 27-foot-tall monument to Confederate soldiers outside a courthouse in eastern North Carolina has been removed after local officials gave their approval. #

AP via Pitt County Public Information Office

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A Christopher Columbus statue is removed from Tower Grove Park in St. Louis on June 16, 2020. #

Doyle Murphy / Riverfront Times via Reuters

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An inspection crew from the Virginia Department of General Services takes measurements as it inspects a statue of Confederate General Robert E. Lee in Richmond, Virginia, on June 8, 2020. #

Steve Helber / AP

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George Floyd's image is projected on the Robert E. Lee Monument in Richmond, Virginia, on June 18, 2020. Virginia Governor Ralph Northam has ordered the removal of the statue, but next steps have been delayed by pending lawsuits. #

Tasos Katopodis / Getty

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