Statue of Revolutionary War general comes down in Albany because he enslaved people

A statue of an 18th-century Revolutionary War general has been removed from its place outside city hall in Albany, N.Y. due to him being an owner of enslaved people. 

In an interview with the New York Times published Sunday, Albany Mayor Kathy Sheehan (D) said her decision to remove the statue of Maj. Gen. Philip Schuyler outside of Romanesque City Hall was due in part to concerns raised by Black members of her staff. 

Philip Schuyler served as a military commander during the Revolutionary War and was a member of the Continental Congress and held public office as a U.S. senator. He was also Alexander Hamilton’s father in law.

Sheehan signed an executive order in June 2020 to remove Schuyler’s statue outside city hall, due to him being the largest owner of enslaved people in the city during his time, adding that the statue will be given to a museum or institution “for future display with appropriate historical context.” 

“You couldn’t get into City Hall without walking past the statue,” Sheehan told the Times, also noting that budget problems and the previous COVID-19 pandemic stalled the eventual removal of the statue. 

Sheehan also said that Schuyler’s slave holding has been well-known in the community, saying remains of enslaved people were found on the family’s former property, according to the Times. 

There’s also been opposition to the removal of the statue, with Rep. Elise Stefanik (R-N.Y.), who represents a district in Northern New York, accusing Sheehan of erasing history with the statue’s removal, the Times reported. 

“It didn’t seem right that we should have a statue on public property, glorifying and paying tribute to someone who had done what he did to African American people,” Alice Green, the executive director of the Center for Law and Justice, a local civil rights organization, told the Times, also calling the removal of the statue “a relief.”

“Some people, I think, became more angry after learning more about who Schuyler was,” Green said, noting that her organization has spent years calling for the removal of the statute. “And they only were able to do that because people started talking about Schuyler as a result of ‘Hamilton.’”

The removal is part of the initial reckoning of calls to remove statues, including those of Confederate generals, during nationwide protests in the summer of 2020 over police brutality following the police-involved death of George Floyd.

–Updated on June 26 at 8:51 a.m.