Roger B. Taney Statue Removed From Baltimore Park

A statue of Supreme Court Chief Justice Roger B. Taney in Baltimore, Maryland, was removed by city workers during the early hours of August 16.

The Taney statue was removed as city workers began work to dismantle at least two other Confederate-era monuments at other locations in the city. Roger B. Taney was the fifth Chief Justice of the Supreme Court and served from 1836 to 1864. He is remembered for delivering the majority opinion on the 1857 case Dred Scott v. Sandford, where he declared that African Americans could not be considered citizens of the United States, since they were seen as inferior during the drafting of the Constitution.

Baltimore Mayor Catherine Pugh had called for the monuments to be removed following violence at a white nationalist demonstration in Charlottesville, Virginia, which was organized to oppose plans to scrap Confederate statues.

This footage shows the statue’s removal as well as a close-up of its plaque. An onlooker can be heard asking why a monument to Taney exists at all. Credit: Twitter/FlyingDogMK via Storyful