Legislators: Statue overlooking Chicago tomb of ‘widely known racist and sexist’ Stephen Douglas should join him in history

The Douglas Tomb State Historic Site seen from the 35th Street Pedestrian Bridge in 2018. | Max Herman/File for the Sun-Times

Not only should statues and a portrait of Stephen Douglas be removed from the state Capitol, three Chicago legislators said Tuesday, but a nine-foot tall bronze statue overlooking the Democratic senator’s 96-foot granite tomb on Chicago’s South Side should also come down to stop paying tribute to a “racist and sexist.”

“There is an edifice dedicated to allowing a bigot even in his grave to look down upon the Black community.” State Representatives Kam Buckner, Curtis Tarver and Lamont Robinson Jr., wrote in a letter to Gov. J.B Pritzker. “This is indefenisible.”

The three members of the Illinois Legislative Black Caucus made it clear they are not calling for Douglas’ body to be exhumed from his tomb in Chicago’s Bronzeville neighborhood, just the statue, dubbing it “a tribute to a widely known racist and sexist who even staked his presidential platform on the subjugation of any non-white male in America.”

The letter comes less than a week after House Speaker Mike Madigan called for statues and a portrait of the political nemesis of Abraham Lincoln to be removed from the state Capitol. Madigan said he learned of “Stephen Douglas’ disturbing past” a few months ago while reading Sidney Blumenthal’s book All the Powers of Earth.

The powerful Southwest Side Democrat said the death of George Floyd, who was killed by a Minneapolis police officer, prompted him to push to make sure “symbols of hate are removed from our everyday lives.”

A portrait of Stephen Douglas overlooks the Illinois House.

The request from Buckner Tarver and Robinson is the first involving Douglas’ tomb near 35th and Cottage Grove.

The three Chicago Democrats applauded Madigan’s efforts in Springfield and called on fellow House members and senators to support them. They also asked Pritzker and Mayor Lori Lightfoot to stop promoting Douglas’ tomb near 35^th and Cottage Grove as a tourist site.

Those who oppose removing memorials to Douglas — dubbed the “Little Giant” for his mix of small physical stature and political power — contend his positive contributions to Illinois and U.S. history outweigh his ownership of slaves and racist views. They argue that he supported the Union cause shortly before his death in 1861,

Stephen Douglas, left; Abraham Lincoln, right, in Julia Ward Howe’s 1861 portrait.

Douglas, a Democratic senator from Illinois, is perhaps best known as being the foil to Lincoln in a series of 1858 debates now known as the “Lincoln-Douglas” debates. They centered on slavery and the future of the country as Douglas ran to keep his U.S. Senate seat.

Douglas pushed for “popular sovereignty” to allow territories to vote on whether they would be slave or free states. Douglas also inherited slaves through his wife’s family.

But Buckner, Tarver and Robinson contend the jury is in on Douglas.

“There is no doubt how Douglas felt about Black individuals, women and any non-white man in America,” they wrote in their letter. “The former presidential nominee of the Democratic Party is quoted as saying: ‘I hold that a Negro is not and never ought to be a citizen of the United States. I hold that this government was made on the white basis, made by the white man, for the benefit of the white men and their posterity forever and should be administered by when men and none others.’”