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https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/chief-standing-bear-who-fought-native-american-freedoms-honored-statue-capitol-180973208/>
"In the late 19th century, the Ponca people were forced off their last
remaining sliver of land in Nebraska to Indian Territory in Oklahoma. No
food or shelter had been provided for them there, and many of the Ponca
died of disease and starvation, including the son of Chief Standing
Bear. The chief’s efforts to return his son’s body to their ancestral
lands transformed him into a civil rights icon. And now, as Gillian
Brockell reports for the Washington Post, Standing Bear has been honored
with a towering statue in the U.S. Capitol’s National Statuary Hall.
Each state is represented by two statues within the hall; in 1937,
Nebraska opted to honor former Secretary of State William Jennings Bryan
and former Secretary of Education Julius Sterling Morton. But last year,
according to Alex Gangitano of the Hill, Nebraska Governor Pete Ricketts
signed a bill to replace both monuments with tributes to different
historical figures: author Willa Cather, whose statue is forthcoming,
and Standing Bear, whose bronze monument was unveiled last week with
Nebraska’s full Congressional delegation and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi
looking on."
Via Muse, who wrote "So happy about the Standing Bear statue going up in
Washington DC!"
Share and enjoy,
*** Xanni ***
--
mailto:xanni@xanadu.net Andrew Pam
http://www.xanadu.com.au/ Chief Scientist, Xanadu
http://www.glasswings.com.au/ Partner, Glass Wings
http://www.sericyb.com.au/ Manager, Serious Cybernetics
