Central Park statue of controversial doctor who conducted experiments on women removed

A statue dedicated to a controversial doctor who had experimented on enslaved women was removed Tuesday from Central Park.

The statue will be moved to the Green-Wood Cemetery in Brooklyn, N.Y., where Dr. James Marion Sims is buried, CNN reported, according to New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio’s (D) office.

The removal comes after New York City’s Public Design Commission unanimously voted this week to relocate the statue, according to CNN.

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One of the plaques next to the statue in Central Park praised Sims for his “brilliant achievement” and says he “carried the fame of American surgery throughout the entire world.”

Sims was a surgeon in the 1800s and made many advancements by conducting experiments on women, mostly on black slaves. 

Protesters had in the past rallied for the removal of the statue of Sims, known as the father of modern gynecology.

Last year, the statue was spray-painted with the word “racist.”

There has in recent years been controversy over the removal of Confederate monuments in cities across the country.

Tags Central Park New York City Slavery in the United States

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