Democrat delegate Eleanor Norton from Washington D.C. has introduced legislation to remove a statue of President Abraham Lincoln with a kneeling freed slave from Lincoln Park near the Capitol. The statue has stood in the park since 1876 and was funded by freed slaves, however, Norton's press release states that the statue "fails to recognize African Americans’ agency in pressing for their own emancipation".

Norton's bill would have the statue removed and placed in a museum with an explanation of its origin and meaning. Norton also pointed out that the freed slaves who funded the statue did not have any input in its design. Renowned abolitionist and freed slave Frederick Douglass spoke at the statue's unveiling, but "pointedly did not praise the statue". Douglass referred to Lincoln as the "white man's President" but also praised him as a "great man" and "liberator". In a letter, Douglass expressed a desire for a statue of a standing and clothed free slave as well.

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