The statue of former Washington Redskins owner George Preston Marshall, who nicknamed his team the Redskins and was the last NFL owner to integrate his franchise, was removed Friday from outside the team’s former home at RFK Stadium in D.C.
Events DC, the government agency who oversees RFK Stadium, said the removal was an “overdue step on the road to lasting equality and justice.”
After years of resisting, Marshall was forced to integrate the Redskins in 1961 when the franchise faced pressure from the federal government to do so. Interior Secretary Stewart Udall threatened to revoke the lease of D.