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.
The Statues Brought Down Since the George Floyd Protests Began
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Read moreWork 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. #
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Read moreThe Stonewall Jackson statue is removed from Monument Avenue in Richmond, Virginia, on July 1, 2020. #
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Read moreIn Frankfort, Kentucky, a statue of Confederate President Jefferson Davis is removed from the rotunda of the capitol building on June 13, 2020. #
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Read moreA caged statue of Confederate President Jefferson Davis is hoisted out of the state capital in Frankfort, Kentucky, on June 13, 2020. #
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Read moreTraffic 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. #
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Read moreAn 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. #
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Read moreThe head of a statue of Christopher Columbus was pulled off amid protests against racial inequality in Boston on June 10, 2020. #
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Read moreA Confederate statue is seen hanging from a street post in Raleigh, North Carolina, on June 19, 2020. #
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Read moreThe 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. #
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Read moreSplashed 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. #
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Read moreA statue of Jefferson Davis lies on the street after protesters pulled it down in Richmond, Virginia, on June 10, 2020. #
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Read morePeople cheer as workers remove a Confederate monument from Decatur Square in Decatur, Georgia, on June 18, 2020. #
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Read moreHouston city workers remove a statue of the Confederate soldier Dick Dowling from Hermann Park on June 17, 2020. #
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Read moreA 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. #
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Read moreA 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. #
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Read morePeople 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. #
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Read moreFire burns on a toppled statue of Albert Pike in Washington, D.C., on June 19, 2020. #
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Read moreA view of the statue of Albert Pike in Washington, D.C., on June 20, 2020, the day after it was toppled #
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Read moreA 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. #
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Read moreA 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. #
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Read moreA 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. #
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Read moreA vandalized statue of Christopher Columbus is seen at the Bayside Marketplace in downtown Miami after a protest against racial inequality on June 10, 2020. #
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Read moreA 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. #
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Read moreThis 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. #
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Read moreA Christopher Columbus statue is removed from Tower Grove Park in St. Louis on June 16, 2020. #
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Read moreAn 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. #
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Read moreGeorge 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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