New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio has taken down portraits of George Washington and others in Gracie Mansion, the city’s mayoral residence. The move was motivated by a desire to add more diversity to the walls of the historic home.
The installations replacing the first US president include portraits of famous black Americans from 19th century New York City, such as abolitionist Frederick Douglass and slave-turned-philanthropist Pierre Toussaint. Other artifacts will portray the working people of the time of Archibald Gracie, who was living in the mansion that now bears his name in the early 1800s.
The move was largely the result of the wishes of de Blasio’s wife Chirlane McCray, who is African-American and wanted the art and objects inside their 1799 home to be a broader reflection of the city’s history, which includes slavery.
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