Boston To remove statue of lincoln, slave

Boston officials have voted to remove “The Emancipation Group” statue depicting Abraham Lincoln and an enslaved Black man from a city square, saying its “reductive representation” of the slave made it unfit for public art.

The unanimous decision, by the Boston Art Commission, followed a month of nationwide protests against racism.

The Commission said in a joint statement with Mayor Martin Walsh that it had not yet decided on a date for the removal of the replica of a statue in Washington, D.C. The Boston statue was installed in Park Square in 1879.

“After engaging in a public process, it’s clear that residents and visitors to Boston have been uncomfortable with this statue, and its reductive representation of the Black man’s role in the abolitionist movement,” Walsh said.

The commission will place the statue in storage and then “re-contextualize” it “in a new publicly accessible setting” yet to be chosen.