PITTSBURGH (Newsradio 1020 KDKA) - A plaque that says, “Anglo-Saxon supremacy” outside of Point State Park has been removed by the Pennsylvania Department of Conservation and Natural Resources.
The phrase refers to English General John Forbes occupying what would become Fort Pitt after the French abandoned Fort Duquesne.
DCNR spokeswoman Chris Novak tells KDKA Radio the plaque will not return to the location outside of the Ft. Pitt Museum and will be placed most likely somewhere else accompanied with historical context.
Novak says the plaque does have a historic significance but with the words “Anglo-Saxon supremacy” on it she understand how one could make an assumption of white supremacy.
Novak says the statue was removed over the weekend so it would not be vandalized and for other culturally sensitive reasons.
One possible location for the plaque is inside the Ft. Pitt museum, but officials have yet to make a determination where it will be placed.
The plaque reads:
Fort Duquesne, end of Forbes Road occupied by General Forbes November 25, 1758 and by him named Pittsburgh.
His victory determined the destiny of the great west and established Anglo-Saxon supremacy in the United States.
His name for ages to come will be dear to American and appear with lustre among contemporary worthies in the Brisish Annals – Col. Hugh Mercer to Colonel Bouquet March 21 1759.
The plaque was erected by the Pennsylvania Historical Commission and the Daughters of the American Revolution of Allegheny County in 1930, but the words on the plaque are from 1759.