A bronze statue of music legend Johnny Cash was unveiled in the U.S. Capitol on Tuesday.
Created by Little Rock sculptor Kevin Kresse, the statue is one of two that Arkansas switched out this year in the U.S. Capitol’s National Statuary Hall collection. A statue of civil rights activist Daisy Gatson Bates, created by artist Benjamin Victor, was unveiled in May.
The statue depicts Cash with his head bowed, a Bible in one hand and a guitar slung over his back. Cash was born outside of Little Rock, Arkansas, in the small town of Kingsland. He rose to musical and television fame, being inducted into both the Country Music and Rock and Roll halls of fame. Cash passed away in 2003, at the age of 71.
Cash’s family was on hand for the event, including the late musician’s daughter Rosanne Cash, who spoke during the ceremony.
“Words cannot come close to expressing our pride to see my dad accorded such a singular privilege, the first musician in history included in the statuary hall collection,” she told the audience.
In 2019, Arkansas legislators voted to replace the statues of 19th-century attorney Uriah Rose and former Arkansas Gov. and Sen. James P. Clarke. Clarke’s great-great-grandson, Clarke Tucker, penned an op-ed during his unsuccessful 2018 congressional run as a Democrat in the Natural State, calling for the statue of his ancestor to be replaced. He pointed to a speech Clarke made in 1894, when running for governor, where he said, “The people of the South looked to the Democratic Party to preserve the white standards of civilization.” Tucker used this to argue for updating Arkansas’ presence in the hall.
Bates is best known for helping to organize the Little Rock Nine, the nine children who became the first Black students to integrate Little Rock’s Central High School.
Watch the unveiling of the “Man in Black” below.
And watch the Bates statue unveiling in May:
