Nevada, N. Dakota in race

Ryan Pearson

Friday, May 2, 2003 | 9:09 a.m.

CARSON CITY -- Two proud symbols in the history of American Indian women -- Sacagawea and Sarah Winnemucca -- may soon enter a room full of white men frozen in marble and bronze: Statuary Hall in the U.S. Capitol.

They would become the first nonwhite women enshrined in the collection that honors distinguished citizens from every state.

The only question is: Who will make it to Washington first?

"The race is on," said Marcia deBraga, a former Nevada lawmaker behind her state's push for Winnemucca. "Nevada is last in so many things. It'd be nice to be first in this."

Nevada's project, however, is still in the fund-raising stage and lags far behind that of North Dakota, which recently cast its 8-foot Sacagawea statue and plans to have the bronze installed in the Capitol in October.

"We never looked at this as a race," said Rick Collin of the State Historical Society of North Dakota. "But it does make all the sense in the world that this is happening."

Historians and women's advocates say the campaign to honor the two figures represents an effort to offer a more diverse image of American history. Women's groups are behind both projects.

Winnemucca was a bold, 19th-century Nevada Paiute woman who was a translator and a bridge between Indians and settlers. She wrote an autobiography and testified before Congress about the hardships facing her people. She died in 1891 at 47.

Sacagawea, who is claimed by several Indian tribes, was the legendary guide for Meriwether Lewis and William Clark during their trek across the frontier in 1804-06.

Nevada, North Dakota and New Mexico are the only states that have not yet placed their allotted second figure in Statuary Hall.

The 139-year-old collection has long been popular with tourists for its gathering of favored sons and daughters from each state. The 97 likenesses line the walls of the elegant marble-floored original House chamber and are scattered along Capitol corridors.

"It's a collection where change comes very slowly," said Philip Viles, a Tulsa, Okla., expert who wrote a guidebook on Statuary Hall. "They could use some more diversity."

No state has ever selected a black person for inclusion in the hall. Only six women are among the figures that include Virginia's George Washington and obscure citizens such as Florida's John Gorrie, a scientist who patented an ice maker.

But federal and state lawmakers are starting to pay attention to the hall's symbolic power.

Kansas may swap out one of its statues for a sculpture of aviator Amelia Earhart. Alabama has approved a similar swap to add Helen Keller.

North Dakota lawmakers four years ago voted for Sacagawea to represent their state. New Mexico recently chose Pope, a Pueblo native who led a revolt against Spanish colonizers in 1680. The Nevada Legislature picked Winnemucca in 2001.

The catch? Cash-strapped state governments have relied on local groups and donations to raise money for the statues.

Mary Jane Evans, president of a Nevada branch of the American Association of University Women, said it has been tough convincing donors that placing a statue of an Indian woman in faraway Washington has symbolic significance.

"It is a big deal," said Evans, who has helped host dinners and teas that have so far have raised nearly $60,000 of the needed $150,000. "How many times do you see a woman representing the United States in any way?"

Though Sacagawea is far more well-known, it took the State Historical Society and the General Federation of Women's Clubs of North Dakota more than three years to raise $200,000 for the 1,200-pound bronze casting that was completed in February. The project got a powerful boost from the bicentennial observances of Lewis and Clark's expedition.

Nevada women, for their part, held a tea at the governor's mansion last weekend that raised $7,000. They also received $500 in change from pupils at Reno's Sarah Winnemucca Elementary School.

"It's not that much money," deBraga said. "Hopefully we'll find some generous people and move quickly."