The bronze statue of President Theodore Roosevelt which has stood at the entrance of the American Museum of Natural History, New York, since 1940 will be removed. 

The statue portrays President Roosevelt on horseback with an African American man to his right and a Native American man to his left. 

Ellen V. Futter, president of the American Museum of Natural History, said, “Over the last few weeks, our museum community has been profoundly moved by the ever-widening movement for racial justice that has emerged after the killing of George Floyd. We have watched as the attention of the world and the country has increasingly turned to statues as powerful and hurtful symbols of systemic racism.”

NY City’s Mayor Bill de Blasio’s office has supported the museum’s request. “The American Museum of Natural History has asked to remove the Theodore Roosevelt statue because it explicitly depicts Black and Indigenous people as subjugated and racially inferior. The city supports the museum's request. It is the right decision and the right time to remove this problematic statue”, the mayor’s office said. 

Roosevelt Statue to Be Replaced with Naming of Hall

Roosevelt’s great-grandson and trustee of the museum, Theodore Roosevelt IV, has agreed with the decision saying,  “The composition of the Equestrian Statue does not reflect Theodore Roosevelt’s legacy. It is time to move the statue and move forward”. 

The date of the removal has not been specified yet. The museum will name a hall after Roosevelt in place of the statue. 
Following the nationwide BLM movement sparked after George Floyd’s death, several monuments have been forcibly removed by protestors.