Proposed statue swap of Billy Frank for Marcus Whitman signals changing of the guard

Northwest News Network

Originally published Feb. 2, 2021 by Northwest News Network

Leaders of seven Pacific Northwest tribes testified in January in favor of replacing a statue of Oregon Trail pioneer and missionary Marcus Whitman in the U.S. Capitol. A proposal pending in the Washington Legislature would install a statue of the late Native rights activist Billy Frank Jr. in Whitman’s place of honor.

Every U.S. state gets to choose two prominent figures to put in the National Statuary Hall Collection. In the early 1950s, Washington state delivered a larger-than-life bronze of Marcus Whitman. A...