| Statue of Thomas Jefferson | |
|---|---|
 Thomas Jefferson statue (2012) | |
 | |
| Medium | Bronze |
| Subject | Thomas Jefferson |
| Location | Decatur, Georgia, United States |
| 33°46′32″N84°17′48″W / 33.77547°N 84.29661°W | |
The Thomas Jefferson statue is a bronze statue of Thomas Jefferson which was formerly located on a bench next to the Old DeKalb County Courthouse in Decatur, Georgia. [1] The statue depicts Jefferson writing the United States Declaration of Independence and was donated to the city by a private citizen to honor U.S. senator Paul Coverdell, who died in 2000. [2]
Following a rally during the George Floyd protests on June 17, 2020, it was announced that the statue would be removed, citing the fact that Jefferson was a slave-owner who owned over 600 slaves and fathered several children with Sally Hemings, his sister-in-law and a slave he owned. [3] On the morning of June 19, 2020 the statue was removed at the request of the donor "to protect it from damage." [4] This came several days after the removal of the DeKalb County Confederate Monument, an obelisk on the courthouse grounds that honored the Lost Cause of the Confederacy. [2] [3]
