An Oxford University college has voted to take down its statue of Cecil Rhodes, and will set up and independent inquiry into the issues surrounding its removal after protests.
The Rhodes Must Fall campaign, which began in 2015, has argued that the statue should be removed because of Rhodes’ imperialism.
However, this decision by the governing body of Oriel College comes after protests organised by the campaign over the past two weeks, which were reignited by recent Black Lives Matter protests across the UK, including the toppling of the statue of slave trader Edward Colston in Bristol.
Here, we take a closer look at who Cecil Rhodes was, and why his legacy is so controversial.
Who was Cecil Rhodes and why is his legacy so problematic?
Cecil Rhodes was a Victorian mining magnate who help colonise large parts of Africa. He founded the colonies of Southern and Northern Rhodesia, named after himself –which have since been renamed Zimbabwe and Zambia.
Rhodes was born in Bishop’s Stortford, Hertfordshire in 1853, the sickly sixth child of a Reverend. He attended a local grammar school, and due to suspected consumption at age 16 he was sent to join his brother at the British South African Cape Colony to recuperate. After digging on his brother’s cotton farm, and then in diamond fields, alongside the native Zulus, Rhodes earned enough money to return to England in 1873 and purchase an education at Oriel College, Oxford.
He spent eight years at Oxford while maintaining his interests in the diamond mines – becoming very rich by the time he graduated.
By the time he was 34, he had expanded his wealth to gold as well as diamonds, and was one of the richest men in the world. He founded the De Beers firm, and devoted his wealth to acquiring territory for the British Empire – with the aim of uniting the whole continent under British rule. He believed that the English were “the first race in the world”. During his lifetime he almost single-handedly expanded the British Empire by 450,000 square miles.
As Prime Minister of the Cape Colony from 1890 to 1896, his government set financial qualifications for voting which restricted the rights of black Africans.
When he died of a heart attack in 1902, aged just 49, the Rhodes Scholarship was set up to help non-British students study at Oxford.
Bill Clinton and three former Australian Prime Ministers have been Rhodes Scholars.
Where is his statue and why do people want it removed?
Cecil Rhodes’ statue is above the entrance to Oriel College, on Oxford High Street.
Because Rhodes was an imperialist and colonist, his legacy has been scrutinised heavily in recent years.
The Rhodes Must Fall campaign Oxford campaign group was begun by students in 2015, inspired by protests at the University of Cape Town to remove a statue of Rhodes at their university.
Rhodes Must Fall Oxford called for the monument to be removed, arguing that Oxford University has “failed to address its institutional racism”.
However, their petition to have the statue removed was rejected in 2016, after angry donors reportedly threatened to withdraw gifts worth more than £100 million if it were taken down..
Demonstrators have protested in front of the statute over the past two weeks, as part of the Black Lives Matter movement – which has resurged since the killing of African American man George Floyd by a police officer in Minneapolis last month.
Lib Dem MP for Oxford West and Abingdon Layla Moran has said that the statue”must come down”.
"The statues of white supremacists and slave merchants should not still be standing in our cities,” she said.
"That's why the statue of Cecil Rhodes must come down.
"I'm not endorsing vigilante action - but I would urge Oriel College in the strongest terms to think about what message this statue sends in 2020, and to remove it."
Last week 26 Oxford councillors - half of Oxford city council - wrote to the university demanding the statue's removal.
Following the protests, the college has said it has voted in favour of taking down the statue, and consultations will now take place into how it can be done and Rhodes’s legacy.
