House Speaker Mike Johnson and Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries announced Thursday that a statue honoring the legendary country music icon Johnny Cash will be unveiled in the U.S. Capitol next month.
The statue, scheduled for unveiling on September 24, will be the second representation of an Arkansas native in the Capitol. This follows the May 8 unveiling of a statue of Daisy Bates in National Statuary Hall. Bates, a prominent civil rights leader who led Arkansas’ NAACP chapter and mentored the Little Rock Nine, replaced statues of Uriah Rose and James P. Clarke, figures whose controversial histories had sparked criticism.
Born in Kingsland, Arkansas, in 1932, Johnny Cash was a monumental figure in music, selling 90 million records globally across genres including country, blues, rock, and gospel. His illustrious career was marked by numerous accolades, including inductions into the Country Music Hall of Fame in 1980 and the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in 1992. Cash also won 13 Grammy Awards and 9 Country Music Association Awards before his death in 2003 from complications related to diabetes.
The 8-foot-tall statue, crafted by Little Rock sculptor Kevin Kresse, depicts Cash with a guitar slung across his back and a Bible in his hand. The unveiling ceremony will be held in Emancipation Hall, with Johnson, Jeffries, Arkansas Governor Sarah Sanders, and Cash’s family expected to attend.
