The American Museum of Natural History in New York City recently announced it was taking down an equestrian statue of Theodore Roosevelt, saying it is both racist and demeaning toward people of color. The bronze features Roosevelt on horseback with an indigenous man walking below on one side and an African-American man on the other. In this essay, the Sierra Club's Michael Brune doesn't make specific mention of Roosevelt, but the same charges leveled against Muir, of having racist attitudes toward people of color and connections to the eugenics movement, also apply to TR who is also considered a lion of the American conservation movement. Photo by Martin Durrsschnabel via Creative Commons CC-BY-SA-2.5
The American Museum of Natural History in New York City recently announced it was taking down an equestrian statue of Theodore Roosevelt, saying it is both racist and demeaning toward people of color. The bronze features Roosevelt on horseback with an indigenous man walking below on one side and an African-American man on the other. In this essay, the Sierra Club's Michael Brune doesn't make specific mention of Roosevelt, but the same charges leveled against Muir, of having racist attitudes toward people of color and connections to the eugenics movement, also apply to TR who is also considered a lion of the American conservation movement. Photo by Martin Durrsschnabel via Creative Commons CC-BY-SA-2.5