The memorial included a marble base featuring the three ships of the Columbus fleet: the Niña, the Pinta, and the Santa María.

[4] On Independence Day 2020, a group of protestors gathered at the piazza to remove the statue by lassoing the top of the monument, according to footage of the event.

[6] The event came days before a warning made by the organization known as the Baltimore BLOC that the group would be destroying the monument if the city did not take upon the action themselves.

[11] Mayor Jack Young commented that the statue's destruction was "part of a national and global reexamination over monuments".

[14] In November the National Endowment for the Humanities announced that they would give $30,000 to the Knights of Columbus to help assist with the recreation of the statue, along with three others.