After almost a century of debate as to whether or not it should be removed as a symbol of racial oppression,[1][2] it was voted by City Council to be moved on June 11, 2019, one year before the protests triggered by the murder of George Floyd.[3] The city council had been planning the block's removal since 2017, with a court victory by the council in February 2020 having cleared the last remaining legal obstacles to moving it.[4] The auction block was removed from its site on June 5, 2020, and is displayed at the Fredericksburg Area Museum.[5][6]