LITTLE ROCK, Ark. When Arkansas lawmakers decided five years ago to replace statues representing the state in the U.S. Capitol, there was little objection to eliminating the existing sculptures. The statues that had been there for more than 100 years were obscure figures in the state’s history.
“I remember giving tours to Arkansas constituents, to young people, and I would like to highlight the two representatives in Statuary Hall in our United States Capitol from Arkansas,” said former governor Asa Hutchinson, who also served in Congress . “And they said, ‘We’ve never heard of them.’”
Instead of two little-known figures from the 18th and 19th centuries, the state will soon be represented by the “Man in Black” and a woman who was instrumental in the fight for school desegregation.
Authorities plan to install statues of civil rights leader Daisy Bates this week and musician Johnny Cash later this year.
Bates, who headed the state NAACP, mentored the black students known as the Little Rock Nine who integrated Central High School in 1957. She is a well-known civil rights figure in Arkansas, just a street away from downtown Little Rock. named in her honor. The state also marks Daisy Bates Day on Presidents Day.
Benjamin Victor, the Idaho sculptor chosen to create the Bates statue, said he began his work by studying her extensively, including reading her 1962 autobiography and visiting her home in Little Rock and Central High. He said he hopes the statue will help visitors to the U.S. Capitol learn more about it as well.
“I hope this really inspires you to study the life and legacy of Daisy Bates,” Victor said. “A big part of this is capturing that spirit of hers and inspiring others to do the same and stand up for what is right.”
The 8-foot-tall bronze statue depicts Bates, who with her husband published the Arkansas State Press, walking with a newspaper in her arm. She holds a notebook and pen in one hand and wears an NAACP pin and a rose in her lapel.
Cash was born in Kingsland, a small town about 60 miles south of Little Rock. He died in 2003, aged 71. His achievements include 90 million records sold worldwide, spanning country, rock, blues, folk and gospel. He was among the few artists inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame and the Rock & Roll the Hall of Fame.
The 8-foot-tall statue of Cash depicts the singer with a guitar slung over his back and a Bible in his hand. Little Rock sculptor Kevin Kresse, selected to create the statue, has sculpted other Arkansas musical figures such as Al Green, Glen Campbell and Levon Helm.
Kresse sees Cash as a much-needed addition to Capitol Hill as a counterweight to the conflict in Congress, he said.
“He followed the same path and lived what he believed. And it was exactly this quality that really attracted me,” said Kresse. “And that inner consideration was something I really wanted to try to bring out in this sculpture.”
The statues of Bates and Cash will replace those representing James P. Clarke, a former U.S. governor and senator in the late 1800s and early 1900s, and Uriah Rose, a 19th-century lawyer. The statues came under scrutiny, especially because of racist comments Clarke made calling on the Democratic Party to preserve “white standards.”
Republican Sen. Bart Hester, a Republican who is now president pro tem of the Senate, began calling for the statues to be replaced in 2018. Clarke Tucker, Clarke’s great-great-grandson and a Democratic state senator, also called for his ancestor’s statue to come down.
“There was a broad recognition that it was time for a change,” said Hutchinson, who signed the 2019 law calling for the Bates and Cash statutes to be increased.
Choosing their replacements was the difficult part, with lawmakers offering competing ideas, from Walmart founder Sam Walton to a Navy SEAL from the state who was killed in Afghanistan. After some discussion, lawmakers finally approved Bates and Cash.
Sen. David Wallace, who sponsored legislation to replace the previous sculptures, said he hoped the new statues would tell people more about the types of figures Arkansas has produced over the years.
“We wanted to play the everyday person who represented Arkansas,” Wallace said. “And I think with Daisy Bates and Johnny Cash we covered the whole spectrum in Arkansas. Just, they represent the common people of Arkansas.”
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Associated Press reporter Mike Pesoli contributed to this report.
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