MADISON, WI (WSAU) - A statue of Abraham Lincoln, one of the ceterpieces of the UW-Madison campus on Bascom Hill, has drawn the ire of demonstrators.
They want the statue removed, saying Lincoln's "history with race relations is questionable." A petition which has been circulating for most of the month describes Lincoln as both "anti-slave and anti-black." At least 300 people have signed it.
The statue was gifted to the campus by Richard Lloyd Jones, a well known white supremacist. It has stood on campus since 1919. Many students traditionally rub the statue for good luck on graduation day.
Two other statues were pulled down by demonstrators elsewhere in Madison this week. The 'Forward' statue on the grounds of the state capitol was vandalized and then toppled early Wednesday morning. And a statue of Col. Hans Christian Heg, an abolitionist who served in the Union army and died trying to end slavery, was dragged down with rope and dumped in Lake Monona.
A written statement from UW-Madison President Rebecca Blank said the statue will not be removed: "The university continues to support the Abraham Lincoln statue on our campus. Like those of all presidents, Lincoln’s legacy is complex and contains actions which, 150 years later, appear flawed. However, when the totality of his tenure is considered, Lincoln is widely acknowledged as one of our greatest presidents, having issued the Emancipation Proclamation, persuaded Congress to adopt the 13th Amendment ending slavery and preserved the Union during the Civil War."