55 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.

1891 - Vandalized in 2004? - Removed April 24, 2017 - Liberty Monument, near Canal Place, New Orleans, Louisiana (USA). Opposite the Audubon Aquarium of the Americas. From Wikipedia: "In 1891, a year after the Democratic legislature passed a new constitution that essentially disfranchised most blacks, the city government, by then representing only its white constituents, erected the Liberty Monument to 'commemorate the uprising' [of 1873-74]. In 1932 inscriptions were added to the monument which attested to its role in the white supremacist movement. In the late 20th century, the monument was seen as a symbol of racism by many in the black and Italian communities. (White League veterans led a mob that lynched eleven Sicilian men in 1891.) After the monument had to be removed because of street work in 1989, many residents opposed its being restored and replaced. The city tried to negotiate removing the inscriptions. Some people argued for its being restored at the original location. The content of the inscriptions was seldom discussed; rather, the issues were dealt with on technical grounds. Historic preservation officials argued for its replacement; others argued this was history which did not deserve continued commemoration." /// "[In 2004?] Anti-Nazi messages are written on the 'Liberty Monument.' The monument honors the White League members who died in an 1874 armed attack against the integrated Reconstruction government of Louisiana. David Duke had planned a rally to occur at this monument on Sunday, May 30th but the event was cancelled, possibly due to the actions taken against the monument. The monument commemorates the deaths of militant racists' attempts to suppress the participation of blacks in post-Civil War Louisiana government. The monument has long been reviled as a celebration of the militant racists in the White League. The 'Battle of Liberty Place' [on Sept. 14, 1874] has been called the largest street fight in American history; 3500 White League members faced 3600 New Orleans police and black militia." /// Removed April 24, 2017 (first of 4 Confederate monuments removed in New Orleans).

M A R K E R

September 1914 - Japanese Monument to the Heroes of the Alamo, Alamo, San Antonio, Texas (USA). "Shigetaka Shiga [1863-1927], a Japanese geography professor, presented the monument to the Alamo. Etched on its face is a poem he composed that compares the Alamo & its heroes to a famous incident in Japanese history, the Siege of Nagashino Castle. Fought in 1575, the siege involved circumstances similar to those that took place at the Alamo in 1836."

T R E E

About 1992 - Live Oak Tree from the Alamo, Nagashino Castle ruins, Nagashinojou (Japan). "A living symbol of the friendship that links the Japanese & American peoples." "A grassy field is all that remains where the castle once stood."

1959-October 2013 - Old bathroom building, behind Our Lady of Peace Catholic Church in rural Vacherie, Louisiana (USA). Unintentioanl monument. "Was little more than a shack. Hurricane Rita almost knocked it down in 2005. It finally got bulldozed in October 2013. Some members of the parish say that was long overdue. When the bathroom building went up in 1959, one set of doors was painted white; the others were a different color. Ushers would follow black parishioners outside to make sure they entered the correct door. 'Let me tell you something maybe not too many people know,' says Anita Battis, 76, a parishioner at Our Lady of Peace her whole life. 'As long as I've come to this church, I've never, ever used that restroom. Never. This was, I would use the word, a slap in my face. If I can't go in any one of the doors, I just as soon don't go in any.'" Margaret Cortez used to pile into a station wagon with her eight siblings to get to mass as a kid. Growing up in the 1960s and '70s, Cortez never thought about why the doors of that bathroom were different colors before they were painted over. The bathroom was in use until a few months ago."

June 1966 - "Kiwanis Friendship Marker," International Bridge, Hidalgo, Texas (USA). Image from IUPUI archives with this caption: "Border Kiwanians Dedicate Friendship Marker. The first Mexico-US friendship marker was dedicated in June 1966 by the Kansas District and McAllen, Texas, Kiwanians at the International Bridge at Hidalgo, Texas." Note that marker design is much different from the US/Canada markers.

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."

1986-2008 - 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." Now abandoned. When visited in September 2009, four arches (of which two seen in image) remained, but the encircled Madre del Mundo sculpture by Marsha Gomez [1951-1998] (also seen in image) had been removed. /// Click here for illustrated report of our visit on 11 Sept 2009.

M O D E L S

1983-2008 - "Amber Waves of Grain." "Created by Denver artists Barbara Donachy & Andy Bardwell. A clay replica of the US nuclear arsenal as it stood at the peak of the Cold War: some 31,500 strategic & tactical nuclear warheads, over 1600 land & sea based missiles, 324 strategic bombers & 37 nuclear submarines. The pieces range in size from 4" warheads to 3" nuclear submarines. In February, 2006, the stunning art & educational exhibit about the nuclear arms race was given to the Peace Farm [near the Pantex Nuclear Plant in Panhandle, Texas, qv] by the Prairie Peace Park in Seward, Nebraska, where it had been installed since 1994. Created in 1982-83, the exhibit was shown in 18 locations before being [permanently] installed at the Prairie Peace Park, including the National Mall in Washington, DC, universities, museums & other locations." /// The Peace Farm sold its land & buildings in 2008; is the Amber Waves of Grain exhibit somewhere in storage? Entry #582 in the "Peace Movement Directory" by James Richard Bennett (2001).

Date? - Richard Daniel Baker Peace Park, Route 66, about 24-1/2 miles east of Amarillo, Texas (USA). "I didn't get it. Was it an illusion, a mirage, a byproduct of heat stroke? Right there, as clear as day for all the world to see both at 70 miles per hour along interstate 40 and at a more leisurely pace on Route 66...is this fantastic leap of faith/imagination in the form of a peace park apparently conceived and built by one Richard Daniel Baker, born June 19, 1951 where we stopped and spent an hour amazed at the spectacle which we were a part of as we roamed alone through this monument of peace, strength, whimsy and faith, in spite of overwhelming evidence to the contrary..."

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.

1990 - "Passage Inachevé / Incomplete Passage," Buffalo Bayou, Houston, Texas (USA). "This skeletal house commemorates the Bicentennial [of the French Revolution]. The images embedded in the gables abstractly reflect issues of human rights, freedom of expressions [sic], contemplative ideas, elements of history & contemporary concerns." /// This is "Monday's Monument" #20.

1992 - "May We Have Peace," entrance to Parrington (North) Oval, Oklahoma University, Norman, Oklahoma (USA). 11-foot bronze statue by Native American artist Allan Houser [1914-1994]. Features a Chiricahua Apache man with a peace pipe. "In 1994, Houser returned to Washington, DC, for the last time to present the US government with the sculpture, 'May We Have Peace,' a gift, he said, 'To the people of the United States from the First Peoples.' The gift was accepted by First Lady Hillary Rodham Clinton for installation at the Vice President’s residence [now at the National Museum of the American Indian]."

1992 - Disappeared - La Paz (Peace Dove), HemisFair Park, San Antonio, Texas (USA). Sculpture of a dove with its wings wrapped around the world. Sculpted by Cuauhtemoc Zamudio. "I have a request in to our San Antonio Parks & Rec department to find out what they did with the lovely peace dove, a gift from our sister city of Monterrey, Mexico, that disappeared from HemisFair Park a while ago." /// Information courtesy of Susan Ives (San Antonio Peace Center).

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).

F O U N T A I N

October 24, 1998 - J. William Fulbright Peace Fountain, between Old Main & Vol Walker Hall, University of Arkansas, Fayetteville, Arkansas (USA). Designed by E. Fay Jones [1921-2004] & Maurice Jennings. "Honors J. William Fulbright [1905-1995], and his belief that 'education, particularly study abroad, has the power to promote tolerance & understanding among nations.'" Fulbright was president of this university 1939-1941. As US Senator, he chaired the Committee on Foreign Relations 1959-1974 & founded "Fulbright Program" which makes competitive, merit-based grants for international educational exchange by students, scholars, teachers, professionals, scientists & artists, 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).

1999 - Freedman's Memorial Arch, 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." /// This is "Monday's Monument" #124.

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

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).

2000 - "Spirit of Hope," Millennium Youth Entertainment Complex, Austin, Texas (USA). - "Winged bronze attached to a building column & hovers above a fountain basin. [The complex] was built to provide neighborhood youth with safe entertainment options, in response to a 1992 drive-by shooting of a teenager. David Newton was commissioned to create a commemorative sculpture & fountain for the center. A poem by Michael Gifford, Jr., mounted near the sculpture, was selected through a neighborhood youth poetry contest about youth violence: 'Hope is the key / Let's make this game a reality / We've got to stop the violence / Love one another / She's your sister and I'm your brother / We've got to come together in unity / That's the way it ought to be / Having the spirit of hope is the key.'" /// Information courtesy of Susan Ives. /// This is "Monday's Monument" #122.

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).

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, MD. 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."

2002 - "Breaking the Cycle [of Violence]" Mural, San Antonio, Texas (USA). "18th mural installed by San Antonio Cultural Arts." /// This is "Monday's Monument" #11.

2002 - The Torch of Friendship / La Antorcha de la Amistad, 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.

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."

October 2, 2003 or 2004 - Statue of Mahatma Gandhi, Houston Garden Center, Hermann Park, McGovern Centennial Gardens, Houston, Texas (USA). /// Donated by the Government of India. Dedicated on Gandhi"s birthday. Information courtesy of Susan Ives.

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

Date? - Peace & Friendship Monument, Arlington Park, Bad Konigshofen (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.'"

M U S E U M

Fall 2006 - Visitors Center, Little Rock Central High School National Historic Site, Little Rock, Arkansas (USA). Establised by Congress on November 6, 1998. Administered in partnership of National Park Service, Little Rock Public Schools, the City of Little Rock & others. Diagonally across the street from the high school & across from the "Transcendence," the memorial dedicated by Michael Warrick (upper right). Contains exhibits on the Little Rock integration crisis in September 1957 (qv) & the larger context of desegregation during the 20th century & the Civil Rights Movement. Opposite the Visitor Center is (1) the Central High Commemorative Garden (lower left), which features nine trees & benches that honor the 'Little Rock Nine,' and (2) a historic Mobil gas station (lower right), which has been preserved in its appearance at the time of the crisis. At the time, it served as the area for the press & radio & TV reporters. It later served as a temporary Visitor Center before the new one was built."

2008 - "Bury the Hatchet" Stone, Main Plaza - Plaza de las Islas, Bexar County Courthouse, San Antonio, Texas (USA). - Note by Susan Ives, Dec. 27, 2013: "On Christmas day we came across this engraved stone embedded in the pavement in front of the courthouse. It says: '[The Hatchet Buried - Likewise a Horse - August 15, 1745. Captain Toribio de Urrutia and Fray Santa Ana now determined to do their best to establish a permanent and lasting peace with the Apache nation... This was a great day for San Antonio. After thirty years of depredations, the harassed settlement was about to secure, as was thought, a lasting peace. Early in the morning the plaza began to fill with an eager throng... First, a great hole was dug in the center of the plaza, and in this were placed a live horse, a hatchet, a lance, and six arrows, all instruments of war. Then Captain Urrutia and the four chiefs, joining hands, danced three times around the hole, the Indians afterwards doing the same with the priests and the citizens. When this ceremony was concluded, all retired to their respective places. Then, upon a given signal, all rushed to the hole and rapidly buried the live horse, together with the weapons, thus signifying the end of war...' /// The stone is one of 30 embedded in the Plaza when it was revitalized in 2008. Never noticed it before. Now I’m all for 'burying the hatchet.' An American idiom, it means putting aside one’s grudges & making peace. As we approach a new year forgiveness is on my mind — a chance to reconcile broken relationships. So I mulled over the words on the plaque... The first thing that struck me was that it was only Apache weapons of war that were buried. I didn’t see any canons or muskets, weapons of choice of the Spanish conquerors. And I was skeptical about the happily-ever-after ending as well. The end of war? So I did a little research... /// According to the Texas Historical Commission: 'August 19: On this day in 1749, four Apache chiefs, accompanied by numerous followers, buried a hatchet along with other weapons in a peace ceremony in San Antonio. The ceremony signified the Apaches’ acceptance of Christian conversion in exchange for Spanish protection from Comanche raids, which had decimated the Apache population. Five years later [i.e. in 1754] Giraldo de Terreros [1699-1758] established San Lorenzo, the first formal mission for the Texas Apaches, in the jurisdiction of San Juan Bautista in Mexico. When the Apaches revolted & abandoned the mission less than a year later, the missionaries argued in favor of a new mission closer to Apache territory. Construction of the ill-fated mission of Santa Cruz de San Sabá, in the heart of Apachería, began in April 1757; on March 16 of the following year, a party of 2,000 Comanche & allied Indians killed eight of the inhabitants and burned the mission buildings.' This is a different story. Far from being an reconciliation among equals, this version paints the 'burying of the hatchet' as the subjugation of the Apaches. They sacrificed their freedom, their faith & their way of life in exchange for the Spanish protection from a mutual enemy. And it didn’t work. A year later they were at it again, a conflict that did not resolve itself for more than a hundred years. There is a lesson here, although I need to think a bit more before I know what it is. What do you think? Can you recall any recent events that follow this pattern of forced conversion in exchange for protection?" /// PS: Urrutia is a town in the Basque part of Spain, and many Spainards in the new world were named for the town. /// Information courtesy of Susan Ives. 2008 AMERINDIANS STONES MISSIONARIES

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.

2009 - Rosa Parks Statue, Rosa Parks Plaza, Dallas, Texas (USA). "Installed in a new Rosa Parks Plaza, a transportation hub for buses & light rail in the Dallas West End, near Dealy Plaza (where JFK was killed). There is room on the bench for commuters to sit with Rosa for a while... Behind her is a waterfall cascading down a granite wall with a Martin Luther King quote, 'until justice roll down like waters and righteousness like a mighty stream.' Joyce Foreman, the former Dallas Area Rapid Transit BoD member who pushed for the memorial said, 'Being an African American woman and an activist, and trying to make sure that people are heard, when you think of people like Rosa Parks, you think that she sat down to be able to stand up for a position. “It is so important for young people to understand that one person can make a difference if they’re doing the right things toward that objective.' This is the second casting of this sculpture; the first is in the Rosa Parks Museum in Montgomery, Alabama. /// Information courtesy of Susan Ives.

February 2011 - "Tolerance," Harmony Walk (corner of Allen Parkway & Montrose Boulevard), Houston, Texas (USA). "A septuplet of sculptures (seven kneeling human figures, composed of multi-lingual melded metal letters resting on Spanish boulders) by Barcelona-based artist Jaume Plensa. Dedication included addresses by Mayor Annise Parker, former Mayor Bill White, Mica Mosbacher, a representative of the Aga Khan Foundation [AKF] & the artist himself. Mica Mosbacher, widow of former US Secretary of Commerce Robert Mosbacher, detailed her involvement with the project, which was sparked by a vicious 2006 hate crime attack against then 16-year-old Latino student, David Ritcheson, who later committed suicide. Mosbacker quoted the United Nations definition of tolerance and how it relates to the city: 'Tolerance is harmony in our differences. Tolerance is not a concession, it's not a condensation, or indulgence.' At the dedication, White expressed thanks to His Highness the Aga Khan, who was pivotal in making 'Tolerance' happen and has spearheaded plans for an Aga Khan Foundation Center on a lot across Allen Parkway."

November 5, 2011 - 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). Construction started at the end of April 2009.

Date? - Peace Tower, Lüshun (former Port Arthur), ShunKou District (China). "Lushun is state-grade State-level scenic spot, nature reserves, and forest park... The railway from Dalian to Lushun is 61 miles long, has nearly 100 years history from its operation. Now it takes only 30 minutes to get Lushun by bus, so people changed to take bus instead of train, the 100 years railway is getting to be forgotten by people. Now only 2 pairs of slow train on the line." (Information from "Official Tour Web Site of Dalian Lv ShunKou District.")

May 24, 2014 - Martin Luther King Statue, MacGregor Park, Houston, Texas (USA). "Thirty years ago a group of Black activists planted tree to mark the place, on a median on MLK Boulevard, where they wanted to install a statue of Martin Luther King. In 2012 the tree had to be removed when Metro, Houston's transit authority, began construction on its light rail line. The director of the Black Heritage Society chained himself to the tree in protest, saying 'The first train may run over my dead body.' Known as the Tree of Life, it was eventually relocated to , and Metro paid $750,000 to create a memorial plaza near the tree. On one path that leads to the statue are quotes from King's 'I have a Dream' speech & the 'Letter from Birmingham Jail.' On the intersection path is inlaid a chronology of his life. It was dedicated in 2014. /// Information courtesy of Susan Ives. 2014 MLK

October 2, 2014 - Mahatma Gandhi Memorial of North Texas, 1201 Hidden Ridge, Irving, Texas (USA). Dedicated on Gandhi"s birthday. /// Information courtesy of Susan Ives.

December 7, 2014 - Whitney Plantation, 5099 Highway 18, Wallace, Louisiana (USA). 35 miles west of New Orleans. "Visitors [are] in agreement that they [have] never seen anything quite like it. Built largely in secret & under decidedly unorthodox circumstances, the Whitney had been turned into a museum dedicated to telling the story of slavery — the first of its kind in the United States."

May 4, 2015 - Monday's Monuments," San Antonio Peace Center (SAPC), San Antonio, Texas (USA). SAPC webmaster Susan Ives begins to post a weekly series of photo essays about selected peace monuments in different countries. The series will continue at least through the end of 2016, i.e. 118 weekly postings. NB: The monuments are displayed on individual web pages & are thus difficult to visit in serial order. Ms. Ives & the SAPC offer no comprehensive guide to this impressive colleciton (so far as I can tell). Click here for more about Ms. Ives.

July 29, 2015 - "Open Hand, Open Mind, Open Heart," Pittman-Sullivan Park, San Antonio, Texas (USA). "32-foot tall sculpture inspired by Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s message of non-violence. Perforated steel & metal tubing depicting an open hand with two internal 5-foot diameter openings. By artist Douglas Kornfeld of Boston. As one steps through the lower stainless steel ring, one’s hand is open, mimicking the open hand of the sculpture. This action symbolically connects the visitor to the piece & the non-violent philosophy of Dr. King, according to Kornfeld."

March 18, 2017 - Lynching Memorial, Warren Temple United Methodist Church, LaGrange, Georgia (USA). Inspired by lynching in 1940 of Austin Callaway who "was commemorated in January 2017 at a reconciliation service at [this church]."

March 31, 2017 - Rio Grande Valley Melon Strike Marker, Hidalgo County Courthouse, Edinburg, Texsas (USA) — Erected by United Farm Workers (UFW). Commemorates strike & march [in 1966] by some 100 fieldworkers nearly 500 miles over a two-month period from Rio Grande City to Austin, where thousands of people marched on the Capitol demanding an increase on the state minimum wage to $1.25... The original 100 marchers traveled more than 490 miles starting July 4, 1966 in Rio Grande City & ending on Labor Day, Sept. 5, in Austin. According to media reports, more than 4,000 people marched on the Capitol that day alongside Cesar Chavez [1927-1993]; union estimates are closer to 15,000 supporters demanding the wage increase." /// Man in image holds United Farm Workers (UFW) flag. Information courtesy of Susan Ives.