Architect Proposes Compromise To Removing Taney Statue

ANNAPOLIS, Md. (AP) -- An architect has proposed a compromise to the debate over whether Roger Taney's statue should be removed from the State House grounds: To contrast Taney with abolitionist Frederick Douglass.

The Capital Gazette reports (http://bit.ly/1RXASrm) architect Chip Bohl recently proposed to move the Taney statue to the side of the State House's entrance and have a Frederick Douglass statue staring directly at it from across the way.

A bill calling for removal of the statue is being considered by the State Legislature.

Taney was a U.S. Supreme Court Justice who wrote the majority opinion in the 1857 Dred Scott case, when the court declared African-Americans couldn't be U.S. citizens.

Bohl says a statue of Douglass would show how far the country has progressed since the 1800s and how the ideologies of two men from Maryland helped to shape the nation's history.
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Information from: The Capital, http://www.capitalgazette.com/

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