Peace Monuments in South Central States (USA) (Arkansas, Louisiana, Oklahoma & Texas)

Click here for Washington, DC.

Right click image to enlarge.

1884 - "Peace: The Genius of History, Esplanade Avenue at Bayou Road, New Orleans, Louisiana (USA). Statue originally decorating the site of the 1884 World's Fair. Left image by EWL.

June 27, 1967 - Cherokee Heritage Center, Park Hill, Tahlequah, Oklahoma (USA). "Includes Cherokee Nation Museum with Trail of Tears exhibit, Cherokee history and culture, Native American art, Tsa La Gi Ancient Village, and the Adams Corner Rural Village." Tehlequah is the capital of both The Cherokee Nation and of The United Keetoowah Band of Cherokee Indians (UKB). "Our Ancient Village showcases the way a traditional Cherokee community would have looked prior to European contact. The village features replicas of traditional homes and meeting houses like those used long before forced removal from the present-day southeastern U.S. to Indian Territory (Oklahoma)."

1969 - Amistad Dam, between Del Rio, Texas (USA). & Cuidad Acuna (Mexico). Image shows both national emblems on the border in the middle of the dam.

1971 - Rothko Chapel, Houston, Texas (USA). Contains fourteen black but color hued paintings by Mark Rothko [1903-1970]. Commemorating Martin Luther King, Jr., [1929-1968] Broken Obelisk (qv) by Barnett Newman [1963-1967] was dedicated in front of the chapel on February 27, 1971. Entry #975 in the "Peace Movement Directory" by James Richard Bennett (2001).

February 27, 1971 - Broken Obelisk, Rothko Chapel, Houston, Texas (USA). First exhibited in front of the Seagram Building in New York City, and then the Corcoran Gallery of Art in Washington, DC. In 1969, Houson city officials said they would reject this as a public memorial to Martin Luther King Jr. [1929-1968]. Dominique & John de Menil proposed that it be placed in front of City Hall with the words "Forgive Them, for They Know Not What They Do" before erecting it permanently at the Rothko Chapel. One of 4 identical monuments by Barnett Newman [1905-1970]. Each is 6,000 pounds of Corten steel more than 25 feet high -- a pyramid topped by a reversed obelisk ascending yet torn, or 'broken,' at its top, obviously some kind of symbolic object roughly resembling traditional monuments of combined pyramid and obelisk."

February 4, 1974 - Chamizal National Memorial, El Paso, Texas (USA), & Parque Público Federal "El Chamizal," Ciudad Juárez, Chihuahua (Mexico). Corresponding parks in the US & Mexico. Both commemorate the peaceful settlement of the century-long Chamizal boundary dispute [1852-1963] and are located in the formerly disputed area. Image shows the US park and international border on the Rio Grande/Rio Bravo.

1974 - African American Museum (AAM), Dallas Fair Park, 3536 Grand Avenue, Dallas, Texas (USA). "Only museum in the Southwestern US devoted to the preservation and display of African American artistic, cultural and historical materials. It also has one of the largest African American folk art collections in the US." A Smithsonian Affiliate.

1980 - Praying Hands, main entrance, Oral Roberts University, Tulsa, Oklahoma (USA). "Stand 60 feet high and weigh 30 tons, the largest bronze sculpture in the world. Evangelist Oral Roberts outsourced their casting to Juarez, Mexico in 1980. ...originally called 'The Healing Hands,' they stood in front of Oral's 'City of Faith,' a medical center devoted to faith healing. But the City of Faith declared bankruptcy in 1989. The hands were then moved to the entrance drive of the university. The City of Faith is now known as CityPlex Towers, and it houses corporate tenants. Its central tower stands 640 feet tall, which reportedly is the same height as the Jesus who appeared to Oral in a dream and told him to build it."

1986 - Peace Farm, Amarillo, Texas (USA). Twenty acres of land on the southern boundary of the Pantex Plant. "Established as an information source about the Pantex Plant and to stand as a visible witness against the weapons of mass destruction being assembled there." Includes the Madre Sculpture.

T R A I L

1987 - Trail of Tears National Historic Trail. "'Designated' in 1987. Commemorates the removal of the Cherokee and the paths that 17 Cherokee detachments followed westward. Today the trail includes about 2,200 miles of land and water routes, and traverses portions of nine states (AL, AR, GA, KY, IL, MO, NC, OK & TN). The National Park Service (NPS) administers the trail through staff at an office in Santa Fe, New Mexico." Click here for "Places To Go" in each state." Right image shows Pea Ridge, Arkansas.

After 1987 - Freedman's Memorial Arch, Freedman's Memorial Cemetery, Central Expressway & Lemmon Avenue, Dallas, Texas (USA). "$2 million monument to Freedman's Town, where freed slaves settled after the Civil War. Its cemetery had disappeared beneath white urban expansion in the 1950's. After utility crews rediscovered the site of an estimated 4,500 graves in 1987, the state began a partial re-interment and started building the memorial...The monument is truly multicultural. Artist David Newton created the bronze sculptures outside the entry, marked with granite arches and an iron gate. Poems are etched into a sunken circle at the memorial's center, and essays by Dallas schoolchildren grace the gate's outside pillars."

April 19, 1995 - Survivor Tree, Oklahoma City National Memorial & Museum, Oklahoma City, Oklahoma (USA). Unintentioanl monument. "An American elm which survived the 4,000 pound bomb that killed 168 and injured hundreds just yards away. When hundreds of community citizens, family members of those who were killed, survivors and rescue workers came together to write the Memorial Mission Statement, one of its resolutions dictated that 'one of the components of the Memorial must be the Survivor Tree located on the south half of the Journal Record Building block.'"

Circa 1995 - Monument to Senator J. William Fulbright, Courthouse Square, Fayetteville, Arkansas (USA). Designed by Hank Kaminsky. Photo shows the artist. Photo by EWL.

March 1996 - Holocaust Museum Houston, Houston, Texas (USA). Entry #967 in the "Peace Movement Directory" by James Richard Bennett (2001).

S T A T U E

Memorial Day 1997 - “Gathering, Lasting Friendship, 1847-1997,” Vereins Kirche, Fredericksburg, Texas (USA). Dedicated as a part of the city's 150th anniversary celebration. Commemorates the signing of the Meusebach-Comanche Treaty in 1847. "The early German settlers became the only immigrant group to successfully negotiate peace with the Indians. It is said to be the only treaty between white settlers and Native Americans that was never broken." "Irene Marschall King, John Meusebach’s granddaughter, brought the original Meusebach-Comanche treaty document from Europe in 1970. She presented it to the Texas State Library, where it is now on display." Info courtesy of John Wilkins.

H O R S E S

Upper image: 1997 - "The Day the Wall Came Down," George H. Bush Presidential Library, College Station, Texas (USA). Dedicated to freedom. Features five Mustangs jumping a crumbling Berlin Wall. A copy is at the Allied Museum, near Brandenburg Gate, Berlin (Germany). Sculpted by Veryl Goodnight (who lives in San Juan National Forest in Colorado).

Lower image: 1998 - "The Day the Wall Came Down," Allied Museum, near Brandenburg Gate, Berlin (Germany). Given by the US government to the German people. Dedicated to freedom. A twin of the original bronze at the George H. Bush Presidential Library in College Station, Texas (USA).

1998 - Peace Rock, yard of Dick Bennett, Fayetteville, Arkansas (USA). Sculpted by Hank Kaminsky. About 4-feet wide. Bears names of 30 male & female peacemakers. Entry #31 in the "Peace Movement Directory" by James Richard Bennett (2001).

October 24, 1998 - J. William Fulbright Peace Fountain, Old Main, University of Arkansas, Fayetteville, Arkansas (USA). Designed by Fay Jones & Maurice Jennings. Fulbright was president of this university. As US Senator, he chaired the Committee on Foreign Relations. Click here for webcam. Entry #28 in the "Peace Movement Directory" by James Richard Bennett (2001).

Date? - Statue of J. William Fulbright, Old Main, University of Arkansas, Fayetteville, Arkansas (USA).

April 15, 2000 - World Trade Bridge, between Laredo, Texas (USA), & Nuevo Laredo, Tamaulipas (Mexico).

2001 - Friendship Monument, Shoreline Boulevard at Lawrence Street, Corpus Christi, Texas (USA). "Bronze sculpture of Captain Blas Maria de la Garza Falcon by artist Sherman Coleman, M.D. The Westside Business Association sponsored this statue. The statue pays tribute to Falcon, an empressario credited with founding the first Spanish settlement north of the Rio Grande, near Petronila in 1764. In 1762, Falcon was commissioned to explore the Nueces River area by Don Jose de Escandon, the Governor of Nuevo Santander, a Spanish Territory extending from the San Antonio River to the Punuco River near Vera Cruz, Mexico. He later brought the first longhorn cattle to South Texas when he established a ranch in the area."

April 19, 2000 - Room of Hope, Oklahoma City National Memorial & Museum, Oklahoma City, Oklahoma (USA). Final room in the memorial commemorating the victims of the bombing of the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building on April 19, 1995. Design based on the story of Sadako Sasaki. An exhibit explains who she was, and the ceiling is entirely covered with brass peace cranes (left image).

2001 - "Peace Movement Directory: North American Organizations, Programs, Museums and Memorials," by James Richard Bennett, founder of Omni Center for Peace, Justice & Ecology (OMNI) & Professor Emeritus of English, University of Arkansas, Fayetteville, Arkansas (USA).

2002 - Torch of Friendship, San Antonio, Texas (USA). Fifty-ton sculpture made in Mexico. A gift to San Antonio from the Association of Mexican Entrepreneurs. According to scu;ptor Sebastian, "Obviously, I thought of all the possible allegorical meanings of a burning torch, such as the fire of friendship, relationships, strength, and creativity. The complexity of the work is that it is in two parts; in this case from two countries, which is complex but the same time satisfying, festive, and friendly."

Started in 2002 - World Peace Monument, Great American Flea Market, Tulsa, Oklahoma (USA). Being constructed by Richard L. Branaman out of bowling balls (as his response to 9/11). As of April 2007, he had collected 849 balls & still needed another 7,586 to build a 21-foot pyramid which he will perch atop a three-legged, 77-foot-tall cement structure to be placed in the middle of the Mingo Road & Admiral Boulevard traffic circle (once part of historic Route 66). According to Branaman, "the World Peace Monument is non-denominational, multi-racial and is not a political statement."

January 1, 2003 - World Peace Prayer Fountain, Fayetteville Town Center, Fayetteville, Arkansas (USA). Sculpted by Hank Kaminsky. Huge globe with "May Peace Prevail on Earth" in 100 languages is continually bathed in water and easily turned by hand. Left image shows Myra Bonhage-Hale of West Virginia (USA).

Easter Sunday 2003 - Crawford Texas Peace House, Crawford, Texas (USA). "Facilities include a full kitchen, outdoor barbecue, AC, press room, indoor and outdoor meeting space, and limited overnight accomodations. The first big physical project undertaken at the site was the creation of a 40 feet-diameter labyrinth...with a Peace Pole at the center. “May peace prevail on earth” is inscribed in English, Hebrew, Arabic and Spanish on each of its four sides. In the fall of 2005 the Casey Sheehan Memorial Peace Garden was added. It includes a large sandstone monument ["Sheehan's Stand"] carved and donated by Ron Teska of Pennsylvania and a statue of Mary Mother of Peace. On December 31, 2006, another monument was placed inside the garden to commemorate the 655,000 Iraq civilians who have died since 2003... Crawford is the rural community in Central Texas, where President George W. Bush made his home in 1999 and thus became a key location in formulation of U.S. foreign polity leading to war." Click here for more photos.

June 8, 2003 - Garden for Peace , Chandor Gardens, Weatherford, Texas (USA) "Renowned for capturing both the style and ambiance of ancient Chinese gardens as well as the subtlety of formal English Gardens, the 3.5 acre estate featured winding pathways, fountains, grottos, and a 30-foot manmade waterfall."

July 12, 2003 - International Peace & Friendship Monument, Arlington Museum of Art, Arlington, Texas (USA). Similar monument in sister city Bad Königshofen (Germany).

June 2001 - Peace & Friendship Monument, Arlington Park, Bad Königshofen (Germany). Celebrates sister city relationship with Arlington, Texas (USA).

2004 - World Peace Manhole Cover, Fayetteville Town Center, Fayetteville, Arkansas (USA). Designed & cast by Hank Kaminsky. Photo shows the artist. Photo by EWL.

2004 - Fountain, Washington Regional Medical Center, Fayetteville, Arkansas (USA). A bronze wall of words that represent the mission and hopes of the facility, words such as love, faith, courage and hope. Waters unite the various messages by flowing gently across the words into a pool. By Hank Kaminsky. Photo by EWL.

2005 - World Peace Wetland Prairie, 1121 South Duncan Avenue, Fayetteville, Arkansas (USA). Named as a condition of the donation of $25,000 by the Omni Center for Peace, Justice & Ecology, said Dick Bennett, the center’s founder... part of its ongoing effort to establish permanent peaceful places in the hope of improving society. 'We believe that, if you establish permanent structures and organizations of peace, our world will be more peaceful.'"

Date? - Peace Rock Garden & Arboretum, Fayetteville, Arkansas (USA). Click here for set of photos from the "OMNI Peace Garden Tour 2007." OMNI is Omni Center for Peace, Justice & Ecology. Click here for a list of privately owned peace gardens on the 2008 tour.

Future - Beacon of Peace & Hope, Arkansas Inland Marine Museum (AIMM), North Little Rock, Arkansas (USA). 36-foot beacon projeting two lights at night: One for peace & one for hope. A project of Women's Action for New Directions (WAND). A groundbreaking ceremony has already taken place, and construction started at the end of April 2009.