Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson has signed into law a bill that replaces the state’s two statues in a U.S. Capitol display with statues of civil rights leader Daisy Bates and country musician Johnny Cash.
Hutchinson was joined at a signing ceremony Thursday by friends and family of Bates and Cash, including the singer’s daughter, musician Rosanne Cash.
The Bates and Cash statues in the Capitol’s National Statuary Hall Collection will replace statues of attorney Uriah Milton Rose and former Gov. and Sen. James Paul Clarke.
Bates was an activist and mentor to the nine black children who integrated Little Rock Central High School in 1957. Cash was born in Kingsland, Arkansas, about 55 miles (82 kilometers) south of Little Rock.
Hutchinson also signed a bill designating Sept. 1 as the state’s “Music Appreciation Day.”