SPRINGFIELD, Ill. (AP) — House Speaker Michael Madigan is calling for the removal of Stephen Douglas imagery from the Capitol, citing the late U.S. senator’s “disturbing past as a Mississippi slave owner and his abhorrent words toward people of color.”
Madigan says he’ll offer a resolution to authorize the removal of a Douglas portrait in the House and replace it with one of Barack Obama.
Madigan is also calling for the removal of statues of Douglas and Pierre Menard, the first lieutenant governor of Illinois who also owned slaves, from the Capitol grounds.
