IHLC Web Archive Collection of Abraham Lincoln Statue Controversies, 2020-2023 | Illinois History and Lincoln Collections

This collection contains archived copies of webpages collected from 2021-2024 that contain digital media, publications, and documents concerning the calls to remove statues of Abraham Lincoln throughout the United States from 2020 to 2023.

Following the murder of George Floyd at the hands of law enforcement in May 2020, calls for racial justice emerged throughout the political and social spheres of the United States. That summer, many community members and activists considered what it means to continue memorializing figures with controversial legacies in the 21^st century. This led to calls for the removal of statues honoring figures with known racist ideologies and those who contributed to acts of racial violence, most notably figures of the Confederacy, though statues of Union figures were not immune from this reconsideration. Protestors who advocated for the removal of Abraham Lincoln statues cited the problematic depiction of Lincoln standing in a paternalistic position over a freed slave, as well as Lincoln’s 1862 order of the mass hanging of thirty-eight Dakota men as reason.

Calls for the removal of statues of Abraham Lincoln began with the Emancipation Memorial in Boston, Massachusetts, as early as the late 2010s. Pressure for removal heightened in 2020 and the statue was removed on December 29, 2020. Since then, several Lincoln statues throughout the United States have had campaigns for their removal, including those in California, Connecticut, Illinois, Massachusetts, Michigan, Oregon, Vermont, Washington, D.C., and Wisconsin. Additionally, Lincoln statues have been defaced and toppled.

This collection contains archived copies of webpages created between June 2020 – February 2023 that contain articles, documents, and posts surrounding the call for removal of Abraham Lincoln statues and memorials located in public spaces and institutions throughout the United States, including parks, intersections, and colleges and universities. Web content contains material both in support of and against the removal of Lincoln statues, memorials, and monuments, including news articles, social media posts, legislative documents, letters of support, and petitions.

The Illinois History and Lincoln Collection (IHLC) compiled this web archive using Archive-It, a web archiving software, from 2021-2024.