KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Plaques providing more context about Andrew Jackson will be posted near statues of him outside Kansas City, Missouri, and Independence courthouses.
The Jackson County Prosecutor’s Office initially started the process to purchase the plaques in 2019.
A resolution passed by the Jackson County Legislature in December 2019 approved the plaques’ placement and wording, a spokesperson for the prosecutor’s office said.
The signs will include language about Jackson’s history as a slave owner and his support of the Indian Removal Act.
The text approved in 2019 reads, in full:
“In 1826, the Missouri State Legislature named this County after the hero of the Battle of New Orleans in the War of 1812 - Andrew Jackson - nearly three years before he became the nation’s seventh President. Almost two centuries later, we hold a broader, more inclusive view of our nation. Jackson’s ownership of slaves and his support for the Indian Removal Act are part of his history. The Act forced Native Americans from their home territories so that white settlers could live there and triggered the Trail of Tears, a 1,000-mile march resulting in the death of thousands, including an estimated one-quarter of the Cherokee Nation.
This statue of Jackson reminds us we are on a path that, in the immortal words of Martin Luther King, Jr., bends towards justice. In turn, we must acknowledge past injustices to help us create a greater nation built upon humane policies to light our way and the way of humanity everywhere.
You may be entering this revered building today in the pursuit of truth or justice. Welcome. Your own history is still being written.”
The spokesperson noted this was written before the death of George Floyd and the protests that followed nationwide and in Kansas City.
In early 2020, the office sought a producer for the signs, but the matter was put on hold due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
During that time, the legislature decided to put the issue to voters, and ask them if they wanted to get rid of the statues all together.
Ultimately, voters decided last Tuesday to keep the statues in place, so the prosecutor’s office restarted the process of purchasing the signage.
At the time of the resolution's passage, Prosecutor Jean Peters Baker said her officer would pay for the plaques.
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