A statue of music legend Johnny Cash is set to be revealed at a dedication ceremony at the Capitol next month, Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) and Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.) announced on Thursday.
The ceremony will take place in Emancipation Hall and will be an invite-only event, Johnson and Jeffries said in a “dear colleague” letter – which was also signed by Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) and Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.).
Members of the Cash family, members of the Arkansas congressional delegation and Arkansas Gov. Sarah Sanders (R) will also attend the ceremony, according to a press release from Johnson’s office.
Each state is permitted two statues in the U.S. Capitol, and Cash’s statue will be his home state’s second. In May, the state revealed a statue of civil rights icon Daisy Lee Gatson Bates.
The unveiling of the two statues comes five years after then-Gov. Asa Hutchinson (R) of Arkansas signed into law a bill calling for the replacement of two statues of figures who had ties to the Confederacy.
Hutchinson said at the time that the goal was to “update the statues with representatives of our more recent history.”
Cash’s daughter, Rosanne Cash, also said in 2019, “We’re especially honored that a statue of my dad has been chosen to represent Arkansas in our nation’s Capitol.”
