Protesters want to remove the Emancipation Memorial in Washington, D.C. NPR's Michel Martin speaks with Yale history professor David Blight about why he thinks the memorial should stay up.

In Washington, D.C., protesters have been demanding the removal of a monument honoring another former president, Abraham Lincoln.

Critics say the imagery itself is racist, and David Blight, a professor of history at Yale University, agrees.

MARTIN: So I want to mention here that, professor Blight, you're the author of the biography "Frederick Douglass: Prophet Of Freedom."

And you talk about the fact that Frederick Douglass is connected to this monument in a very significant way.