Theodore Roosevelt statue to be removed from NYC's Museum of Natural History

The "Equestrian" statue at the American Museum of Natural History.
(Image credit: AP Photo/Mary Altaffer, File)

A bronze statue of Theodore Roosevelt that has been at the entrance of the American Museum of Natural History in New York City since 1940 will be removed.

The "Equestrian" statue depicts Roosevelt on horseback, with an African man on one side and a Native American man on the other. The museum approached the city — which owns the building and property — to discuss removing the statue "because it explicitly depicts black and indigenous people as subjugated and racially inferior," Mayor Bill de Blasio said in a statement on Sunday. "The city supports the museum's request. It is the right decision and the right time to remove this problematic statue."

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Catherine Garcia, The Week US

Catherine Garcia has worked as a senior writer at The Week since 2014. Her writing and reporting have appeared in Entertainment Weekly, The New York Times, Wirecutter, NBC News and "The Book of Jezebel," among others. She's a graduate of the University of Redlands and the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism.