Cheri Beasley called the decision to remove Thomas Ruffin from the high court’s wall ‘a tremendous reflection’ of progress made.
The North Carolina Supreme Court has announced plans to remove the portrait of Thomas Ruffin, a former chief justice who was a slave owner, from one of its walls.
His towering portrait, which currently hangs in the Supreme Court courtroom, will be replaced by the Supreme Court seal.
The painting of Ruffin’s likeness will be removed after a recommendation by the state’s Advisory Commission on Portraits, which was formed in 2018 after activist groups began their calls for its deletion.
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Ruffin, who owned slaves in the 1800s and served on the North Carolina Supreme Court from 1829 to 1852, firmly believed owners held absolute power over those whom they enslaved. He once wrote slave owners should not be convicted of assault or battery against their human property.
Outgoing state Supreme Court Justice Cheri Beasley, a Black woman, called the decision to remove his portrait “a tremendous reflection of the progress that has been made since the time Chief Justice Ruffin served on the Court.”
“It is important that our courtroom spaces convey the highest ideals of justice,” said Beasley, “and that people who come before our Court feel comfortable knowing that they will be treated fairly.”
Source: NC Supreme Court to remove portrait of chief justice who was a slave owner
