An Inclusive Litany

12/30/93

A Native American tribe in New York demanded that the famed statue of Theodore Roosevelt that stands in front of the American Museum of Natural History be removed and replaced by another. The statue, which shows Roosevelt on horseback, allegorically riding through time with a Native American man and a black man walking beside him, was deemed offensive because Native Americans and African-Americans are shown in "inferior" positions. The statue was meant to depict Roosevelt as a friend to all races. However, the tribe said that a new statue must show Roosevelt, the Native American, and the African-American at precisely the same height.