Statue of George Washington (Seattle)

George Washington, also known as the President George Washington Monument,[1] is a bronze sculpture of George Washington by Lorado Taft, installed at the University of Washington campus in Seattle's University District, in the U.S. state of Washington.

George Washington
View from the southwest in 2015
ArtistLorado Taft
Year1909 (1909)
TypeSculpture
SubjectGeorge Washington
LocationSeattle, Washington, United States
Coordinates47.656072°N 122.311131°W / 47.656072; -122.311131

History

The statue was dedicated on Flag Day, June 14, 1909, during the Alaska–Yukon–Pacific Exposition.[2] Its permanent 24-foot (7.3 m) pedestal was built by the Works Progress Administration (WPA) and installed in August 1938.[3] The pedestal had been designed by Taft in 1908 but was not funded in time for the exposition.[4]

Located a short distance west of Red Square, the statue faces west, toward The Brothers of the Olympic Mountains.

Calls for removal

A number of student led organizations at the University of Washington have called for the statue's removal. Most notably, the Black Student Union and the Black Lives Matter coalition (UW BLM) have publicly spoken out against the statue. UW BLM staged a month-long protest of the statue in August 2020, spray-painting the statue every day to induce a response from the administration. As of October 16, 2020, there has been no response from university officials regarding the removal of the statue.[5]

The university's student newspaper The Daily has also called for the removal of the statue in an op-ed, noting that a petition to remove the statue has reached over 3,000 signatures. This petition is asking for the George Washington statue to be replaced with a Black Power fist and to rename the nearby By George Cafe to the Juneteenth Cafe.[6] According to a 2021 poll conducted by KING 5 News that surveyed 650 Washingtonians, only 29% wanted the statue removed, 59% wanted the statue to remain, and 11% weren't sure. [7]

See also

References
  1. "George Washington, (sculpture)". Smithsonian Institution. Archived from the original on March 4, 2016. Retrieved January 13, 2016.
  2. "George Washington Statue". University of Washington. Archived from the original on September 8, 2015. Retrieved January 2, 2015.
  3. "Statue Takes Foot Off Coin". Seattle Post-Intelligencer. August 10, 1938. p. 10.
  4. "Washington to Climb Heights on U. Campus". Seattle Post-Intelligencer. March 20, 1938. p. 8.
  5. Keimig, Jasmyne (August 14, 2020). "UW Protesters Embark on Month-Long Art Installation at George Washington Statue". The Stranger. Archived from the original on 2020-10-01. Retrieved 2020-10-16.
  6. Krieg, Hannah (July 14, 2020). "The petition to remove the George Washington statue and the larger conversation of a white-centric campus". The Daily of the University of Washington. Archived from the original on 2020-10-20. Retrieved 2020-10-16.
  7. Swaby, Natalie (16 February 2021). "UW Black Student Union pushes for removal of George Washington statue". king5.com.
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