Father of a genre [Answered]

Dimwits took down the bust of a man whom you all know by now. He never even set foot in the Americas and was - oh irony - kept as a slave himself for five years in North Africa. Street View image please.

People have gone crazy. Trying to erase history by removing/destroying/defiling statues etc. on top of it the corporations changing the names of 100+ year old products like Aunt Jemima Syrup and Uncle Ben's Rice. 

I have always tried to steer clear of politics on this enjoyable forum and will continue to do so. However, it can be hard to ignore developments when they are threatening to affect our lives. Fighting for a worthy cause is one thing, exploiting a worthy cause for ulterior reasons using humiliation, intimidation and violence against innocent people is quite another.

Meanwhile, well done Walter_V_R, CuriousJM and krenek.

So who was this gentleman and what genre did he father?

SPOILER: Click to show

Miguel de Cervantes (1547-1616) is the author of Don Quixote (2 volumes, 1605 and 1615), and for that reason he is sometimes called the father of the novel.
In a recent addition to the Wikipedia article on Cervantes, it says: “In June 2020, a Cervantes sculpture in San Francisco was vandalized. The vandalism came amid nationwide demonstrations to remove Confederate statues others perceived as symbols of hate and colonial violence in the highly publicized police killing of George Floyd, although Cervantes died long time [sic] before the United States Declaration of Independence, and had not travelled to America (although he wanted to).”
Location of the bust (and sculptures of Don Quixote and his squire Sancho Panza): Golden Gate Park, San Francisco, United States. 37.7721°N, 122.4668°W