LITTLE ROCK, Ark. (AP) — Arkansas is halfway toward its fundraising goal for replacing the state’s statues at the U.S. Capitol with ones depicting civil rights leader Daisy Bates and country music legend Johnny Cash.
Gov. Asa Hutchinson on Thursday said $510,000 in private donations have been raised so far for the statues, which will replace the state’s existing ones at the Capitol.
Hutchinson said at least $1 million needs to be raised for the statues and their transport to Washington.
Hutchinson announced a new website people can visit to donate money to the statue effort.
LITTLE ROCK, Ark. (KARK) – Governor Asa Hutchinson is set to give an update on the process on replacing the statues representing Arkansas in the National Statuary Hall in Washington, D.C.
National Statuary Hall holds two statues from each state, and Arkansas is currently represented with statues dedicated to U.M. Rose, and prominent Arkansas lawyer after the Civil War who was a founder of the American Bar Association, and James P. Clarke, the state’s 18th governor and a former U.S. senator.
The state assembly voted in July of 2019 to replace those statues with ones representing civil rights activist and journalist Daisy Lee Gatson Bates and legendary performer Johnny Cash.
Hutchinson is set to speak Thursday at 10 a.m.
