LITTLE ROCK, Ark. — When Arkansas lawmakers decided to replace the state’s statues at the U.S. Capitol five years ago, there was little opposition to removing the existing ones. The statue, which stood there for more than 100 years, was little known in the state’s history.
“I remember giving a tour to voters and young people in Arkansas, and I pointed to the two congressmen from Arkansas in Statuary Hall in the Capitol,” the former governor said. said Asa Hutchinson, who also served as a member of Congress. “And they’ll say, ‘I’ve never heard of that.'”
Instead of two lesser-known figures from the 18th and 19th centuries, the state will soon be represented by the Man in Black and a woman who fought against school segregation.
Officials this week said they plan to install statues of civil rights leader Daisy Bates and musician Johnny Cash later this year.
Bates, who headed the state NAACP, led a group of black students known as the Little Rock Nine who integrated Central High School in 1957. She is a well-known civil rights activist in the state of Arkansas, where she lives on the streets of downtown Little Rock. She was named in her honor. The state also observes President’s Day as Daisy Bates Day.
Benjamin Victor, the Idaho sculptor chosen to create the Bates statue, researched her extensively, including reading her 1962 autobiography and visiting her Little Rock home and Central High School. He said he started working from. He said he hopes the statue will help visitors to the Capitol learn more about her.
“First and foremost, I hope it inspires them to learn about the life and legacy of Daisy Bates,” Victor said. “A big part of it is capturing her spirit and inspiring others to do the same and stand up for what’s right.”
The 8-foot-tall bronze statue depicts Bates, who with her husband published the Arkansas State Newspaper, walking with a newspaper in her arms. She has a notebook and pen in one hand and wears her NAACP pin and rose on her lapel.
Cash was born in Kingsland, a small town about 60 miles (100 kilometers) south of Little Rock. He passed away in 2003 at the age of 71. His accomplishments include his 90 million records sold worldwide, spanning country, rock, blues, folk and gospel. He was one of the few artists to be inducted into both the Country Music Hall of Fame and the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.
The 8-foot-tall (2.4-meter) statue of Cash depicts him with a guitar on his back and a Bible in his hand. Kevin Kresse, a Little Rock sculptor chosen to create the statue, has also sculpted other music figures from Arkansas, including Al Green, Glen Campbell and Levon Helm.
Kresse believes the addition of cash to the Capitol is desperately needed to balance the tensions in Congress, he said.
“He stood his ground and lived what he believed in. And that was the quality that really appealed to me,” Kresse said. “And that inner thoughtfulness was what I really wanted to express with this sculpture.”
The statues of Bates and Cash will be replaced by statues depicting James P. Clark, a former governor and senator from the late 1800s and early 1900s, and Uriah Rhodes, a 19th century lawyer. The statue had come under intense scrutiny, particularly over racist remarks made by Clark, in which he called on Democrats to uphold “white standards.”
Republican Sen. Bert Hester, who currently serves as Senate president pro tempore, began calling for the statue to be replaced in 2018. Clark’s great-great-grandson, Democratic state Sen. Clark Tucker, also called for the statue of his ancestor to be removed. come down.
“There was a widespread recognition that it was time for a change,” said Hutchinson, who signed the 2019 law requiring the installation of the Bates and Cash statues.
Choosing a replacement has been a difficult part, with lawmakers ranging from Walmart founder Sam Walton to the country’s Navy SEAL killed in Afghanistan offering conflicting ideas. After some wrangling, lawmakers ultimately approved Bates and Cash.
Sen. David Wallace, who sponsored the bill to replace the previous sculpture, said he hopes the new statue will tell people more about what kind of statues Arkansas has produced over the years.
“We wanted to portray ordinary people who represent the state of Arkansas,” Wallace said. “And with Daisy Bates and Johnny Cash, I think we’ve covered all the territory in Arkansas. They just represent the common people of Arkansas.”
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Associated Press writer Mike Pesoli contributed to this report.
