Chief Standing Bear Statue Dedicated At US Capital

WASHINGTON, D.C.- Nebraskans, members of the Ponca tribe, and House and Senate leadership came together Wednesday for a dedication ceremony for Nebraska’s statue of Chief Standing Bear in the U.S. Capitol.

The unveiling ceremony took place in the U.S. Capitol’s National Statuary Hall, where the statue is now located. Each state is granted two statues for display in the Capitol. In 2018, Nebraska state senators voted to replace both of Nebraska’s existing statues—of presidential candidate and orator William Jennings Bryan and former Agriculture Secretary Julius Sterling Morton—with statues of Chief Standing Bear and writer Willa Cather. The Chief Standing Bear statue is made of bronze and stands 11 feet tall from its base.

It honors the former chief of the Ponca tribe, who was arrested while traveling back to Nebraska to bury his son.