monuments

"We set out to correct a glaring inequity in our public spaces," said Chirlane McCray, the first lady of New York City. A number of cities are taking steps to honor women with statues and public art.

The statue, called Early Days, showed a Native American gazing up at a vaquero, or Spanish cowboy, and a proselytizing priest. Native groups have long called for the sculpture's removal.

It also recommends at least one monument to be added to the Capitol grounds that highlights the contributions of the state's African American citizens, and new signage on the existing statues.

The monument depicts suffragist leader Millicent Fawcett, who fought for decades to secure the vote for all women. The bronze joins 11 statues of men such as Winston Churchill and Abraham Lincoln.

King is the first African-American to be memorialized on the state Capitol grounds, where monuments to Confederate generals and segregationists stand.

The U.S. isn't alone in confronting sites dedicated to contentious, and often troubling, moments in its history.

Following death threats, the contractors wore flak jackets and helmets as they dismantled a monument to members of a white supremacist group who attacked the city's racially integrated police force.