Johnny Cash Statue To Take The Place Of Controversial Figures
GAB Archive/Redferns
On September 24, a new statue of Johnny Cash will be unveiled at the United States Capitol.
Cash’s statue will represent the state of Arkansas, where he was born. His statue will join a statue of civil rights leader Daisy Bates as representatives of The Natural State. Bates’ statue was unveiled in a ceremony held in May in National Statuary Hall at the US Capitol.
Bates was a civil rights leader and was the head of the NAACP in Arkansas. She also mentored the students known as the “Little Rock Nine,” who integrated into an all-white high school in 1957.
The Bates and Cash statues are replacing statues of two controversial figures.
Statues of Uriah Rose and James P. Clarke were removed and in their places will be Bates and Cash. Both controversial figures, Rose was known as the president American Bar Association, but also was famous for being a Confederate sympathizer. Clarke was a governor and senator in the 18th century, but also a known white supremacist.
Many statues of controversial figures have been removed or replaced following the protests following George Floyd’s death in 2020.
Cash’s statue was crafted by Little Rock artist Kevin Kresse.
The statue is eight feet tall and shows Cash standing up with his guitar slug on his back. He is holding his guitar strap with his left hand and is holding a bible in his right hand.
Kreese actually finished the statue in early 2022, and finally received full approval for it to be moved into the Capitol in December of that same year. At the time, he said he didn’t know when the unveiling would be. Two years later, he is going to see his work come to fruition.
Kreese posted on August 2nd that the statue was en route to Washington, D.C.!
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See Kreese’s post below to see his Johnny Cash statue. make sure to swipe through so you can see all the angles.
