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The recent protester-initiated takedown of the Edward Colston statue in Bristol (due to his affiliation with slave trade) has sparked much debate, forcing societies to rethink who they choose to honor through this medium.

This has also inspired the takedown of a number of other statues, namely those of Christopher Columbus, Jefferson Davis, and the Portsmouth Confederate Statue, and there are also demands to remove the Cecil Rhodes statue in the UK as well.

And while this statue purge continues, it’s important to note that not all statues honor people of dubious or debatable reputation, as there are a number of them honoring political leaders, social activists, and all-around good guys in history.

Twitter has recently begun sharing photos of statues honoring people who have genuinely stood for peace, equality, and justice, speaking against structural racism, sexism, homophobia, and many other social issues.

Bored Panda invites you to check out the best picks below. While you’re there, why not vote on your favorites and leave a comment in the comments section below.

#1

Social-Political-Activists-Statues

fastcarspete Report

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Monika Soffronow
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3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

In April 1985, Danuta Danielsson was 38 years old when her famous reaction to a neo-nazi demonstration by the Nordic Reich Party was captured by Hans Runesson. She had moved to Sweden a few years earlier, having married a Swedish man. Her mother had been at the Majdanek concentration camp, not Auschwitz. Danuta regretted the incident and all that followed. She was battling psychological problems and three years later, at 41, she committed suicide. (https://www.expressen.se/kvallsposten/danuta-fran-polen-var-tanten-med-vaskan/) The statue was not without controversy. (https://mckitterick.tumblr.com/post/184320596645)

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#3

Social-Political-Activists-Statues

SilkCutBlue Report

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Jo Choto
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3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I remember reading about him. An amazing and Very modest man. I think there is a show somewhere where they put him in an audience and he didn’t know they had surrounded him with all the hundreds of descendants of the children he had saved.

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#4

Social-Political-Activists-Statues

corinapickering Report

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Electric Ed
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3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

This is probably in Grenada, the country in the West Indies. Not Granada, the land-locked city in Spain. Though there is a New Granada too, which seems to be a catch-all for the Spanish colonies in the americas.

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#5

Social-Political-Activists-Statues

_Cailin_Corcra_ Report

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Jon S.
Community Member
3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

It was quite interesting reading about the famine. Initially, there was a huge response by the British government to help the famine victims and very large charity drives throughout the British isles. However, after the first year of the famine public sympathy had dried up. Papers were blaming mismanagement in Ireland, underestimating the number of people affected by on going starvation. Politicians were concerned ongoing intervention in the food markets was having more a detrimental then beneficial effect. Public sympathy had turned to hostility as waves of Irish migrants arrived in Britain. So the remaining years of famine the Irish peasants were on their own. It reminded me of the way the EU responded to the migrant crisis in modern times, initially with a huge out pouring of empathy and accepting many millions in, then cold disinterest and rejection.

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#7

Social-Political-Activists-Statues

fleshflesh808 Report

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ElusiveIntrovert
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3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

That's how a true leader should be, not some idiot who can wage a war by typing gibberish on Twitter.

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#8

Social-Political-Activists-Statues

_James_Holt_ Report

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chi-wei shen
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3 years ago (edited) DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

He helped the allies win the war by breaking the Enigma code, but after the war him being gay was the only thing that mattered. Nowadays he is praised for what he has achieved, but his contemporaries condemned him for whom he loved.

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#10

Social-Political-Activists-Statues

cnombret Report

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Daria B
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3 years ago (edited) DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Member of a royal family sold into slavery. It's sad, but it's interesting, makes you think...

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#11

Social-Political-Activists-Statues

revkatebottley Report

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Jo Choto
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3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

People talk all the time about how Americans saved everyone in WWII. It was women. If women hadn’t stepped up to do all the work while the men went off to war, entire countries would have collapsed.

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#13

Social-Political-Activists-Statues

HerefortheMerl2 Report

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chi-wei shen
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3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I've read her diary when I was 14 and I couldn't do it again. Reading it with the knowledge of what happened was emotionally too stressful for me at that age.

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#14

Social-Political-Activists-Statues

JudithFreedman Report

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Elsahthescienceguy
Community Member
3 years ago (edited) DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

That’s odd.... I know Virginia like the back of my hand and no one has ever told me that this beautiful and meaningful statue existed!

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#15

Social-Political-Activists-Statues

moongiggles Report

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chi-wei shen
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3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

For those who are confused about Spanish and Portuguese mentioned above: Magellan was indeed Portuguese, but he sailed under the Spanish flag.

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#16

Social-Political-Activists-Statues

firendeslre Report

#17

Social-Political-Activists-Statues

onthemoon69 Report

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Chris DiFonso
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3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I wasn't familiar with Miss Davison, so I did research. She was an English suffragette. During one of her protests, she threw herself in front of the King's horse at Epsom Derby. She died four days later.

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#18

Social-Political-Activists-Statues

LaurenceL_Art Report

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Tracey Hirt
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3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

While Riel did sentence Thomas Scott to execution by firing squad, he himself never carried weapons and never personally killed anyone. He was a leader who led a rebellion, who was then executed for treason.

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#19

Social-Political-Activists-Statues

SammSpamm1 Report

#20

Social-Political-Activists-Statues

Tweettweetter Report

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Puna
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3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Boy is this information wrong! Bartholdi designed it to stand at the entrance of the Suez Canal in Egypt. They turned it down because of cost.

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Daria B
Community Member
3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

The captions might be wrong, but, dang, is she beautiful! I really like the way she looks.

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Jo Choto
Community Member
3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

It definitely was inspired by the abolition of slavery but she was model on the classical character Liberty for which there were multiple images in existence. There are no sources to suggest she was supposed to be a black woman.

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Megan Navonod
Community Member
3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I might be wrong but I thought the Statue of Liberty was gifted by the french and modelled to be a french woman. There's one almost identical in Paris. This is a nice statue though

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Diane Rosier
Community Member
3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Sorry, but that is false. It was originally modeled after an Egyptian woman. Here are the three projects for the Suez Canal: Image-1024...1d58f1.jpg Image-1024-1024-241933-5ee69281d58f1.jpg

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Princess Strickland
Community Member
3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Eh still an African woman 🤷 there are so many lady liberties in history though...

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Leo Domitrix
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3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Incorrect information in the caption. Nice idea, but if you want history to be taught accurately about slavery, etc.? You gotta admit that Lady Liberty was always gonna look Greco-Roman classical, too.

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Dave In MD
Community Member
3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

What's the source for this? There are many theories online, most say the face was modeled after Frédéric-Auguste Bartholdi's mother. The body was classical greek form..

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Emilie Courage
Community Member
3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.washingtonpost.com/history/2019/05/23/statue-liberty-was-created-celebrate-freed-slaves-not-immigrants/%3foutputType=amp

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Meihana Johanson
Community Member
3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

it wasn't modelled after a black women it was modelled after the romen goddess of liberty

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Eun-Young Jang
Community Member
3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

not true, the face was based on his mother and his friends wife. which were both in fact, white women. with reference to the body of the greek/roman goddess of freedom... so OBVIOUSLy it would reflect european features, since, btw it was made by the french so...

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Kaylee Adams
Community Member
3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

The french gave us our lady liberty because we were allies. This post is dead wrong.

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Margaret Hague
Community Member
3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Really should check the facts before posting. Makes you look like an idiot

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M Redmond
Community Member
3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

The Statue of Liberty was a slave and supposed to be a black woman. There is a link below. If you haven't figured things out yet, our history was very whitewashed and cleaned up by white Americans not wanting to own the many instances of blood on their hands.

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Rebecah Ozuna
Community Member
3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

And the one who brought you the abolition of slavery was a magnificent white man. Unfortunately for us, he got murdered before completing his task of sending the ex-slaves back to Africa. You wouldn't be here hating white people today and Floyd would've been alive ............... or in the belly of a lion.

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Pseudo Puppy
Community Member
3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

there's also a book on this history: “Enlightening the World: The Creation of the Statue of Liberty.” by Yasmin Sabina Khan.

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Beth Heilman
Community Member
3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

This statue has a more human touch to a person lighting the way to....

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Pseudo Puppy
Community Member
3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

for anyone interested in this information that was previously hidden, only recently revealed, and now back on record at the statue / island.... https://www.washingtonpost.com/history/2019/05/23/statue-liberty-was-created-celebrate-freed-slaves-not-immigrants/

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Emilie Courage
Community Member
3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Thank you for this. We all assume the original poster is dead wrong because that’s not what we all learned in school. Really? We should be smarter than that. I to thought the original poster was wrong. So I looked into it. They are way more right than we thought!

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John Doe
Community Member
3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Tweettweetter is very ignorant, obviously he has never researched this particular statue

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Michael Dworkin-Robertson
Community Member
3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

the flow and form of this statue are more beautiful than Lady Liberty...she looks more natural, more human....

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Elaine Mattingly
Community Member
3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

She is elegant , beautiful, well dressed and the light is so out of place it's tacky not respectful.

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Monika Soffronow
Community Member
3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

'The French Connection' https://www.nps.gov/stli/learn/historyculture/the-french-connection.htm

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Monika Soffronow
Community Member
3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Can someone tell us where this statue is? It is not on this list https://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/new-yorks-statue-of-liberty-is-just-one-of-many-worldwide

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Annabeth Chase
Community Member
3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I agree- this one is so much better. It represents that making behind the statue so much more that the Statue of Liberty does.

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M Redmond
Community Member
3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

So many of the comments in this post are in real denial. Our history that we learned in school was very white washed and changed. The Statue of liberty was supposed to be a black woman and freed slave. My amazement is the shock or inability to believe that we have been lied to for quite a long time. If you look up about statue of liberty, the truth has been confirmed and a simple google search away. As a country with a deep history of blood on our hands, telling the truth would force the us to own up to the ugly truth and take accountability for centuries of wrong doing. The powers that be are not willing to do that, many are cowards, many are comfortable in how it is and overlooked. Why change now! That is why we continue to have the problems we do. Until they acknowledge this, it continues. Facts are St of Lib is a black woman and freed slave. Deal with it! We had to!

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Robin Warner
Community Member
3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

While I haven't known of any of these existed before, but I agree. It should have been this lady.

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#21

Social-Political-Activists-Statues

krayziedoc Report

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Munhu Afro
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3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Reminds me painfully of Marikana South Africa. Imperialism and Capitalism at their best

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#25

Social-Political-Activists-Statues

ARCASH Report

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Jo Choto
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3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I will always be confused by the stone they used for this incredible monument.

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#28

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rattlecans Report

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Chris DiFonso
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3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I did research since I wasn't familiar with Mary Barbour. She was closely associated with the Red Clydeside movement in the early 20th century and especially for her role as the main organiser of the women of Govan who took part in the rent strikes of 1915

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#29

Social-Political-Activists-Statues

UgonnaOkoro Report

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Jon S.
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3 years ago (edited) DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Its natural that this woman's story makes people feel uncomfortable. During the 19th century everyone in Britain was told colonialism and missionary work was an unmitigated good, because it allowed people like Slessor to do the things she did. After decolonisation in the 1970s we were told it was a terribly corrupt practice which led to widespread, abuse, exploitation and destruction of native cultures through arrogance. I sought out some opinions from the people who were evangelised and guess what? There was no consensus even among them. One man said "Westernisation was wonderful. No body kills anyone anymore, we can trade for food and clothes" and another said "westernisation was terrible. Everybody has become an alcoholic, no one does proper work. We don't know who we are anymore"

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