Statue_of_Sakakawea_(Crunelle) Knowpia

Sakakawea
Sakakawea
	The statue on the North Dakota State Capitol grounds in 2004
Medium	Bronze sculpture
Subject	Sakakawea
Location	Bismarck, North Dakota, U.S.

Sakakawea (or Bird Woman or Sacajawea) is a monumental sized bronze sculpture created by Leonard Crunelle. It was dedicated on October 13, 1914 and stands on the grounds of the North Dakota State Capitol in Bismarck, North Dakota. A recasting was done in 2003 to place in the United States Capitol.

Description edit

The statue is a full length figure of Sakakawea (also called Sacagawea or Sacajawea) carrying her baby, Jean Baptiste Charbonneau, on her back. It carries the inscription:

SAKAKAWEA / THE SHOSHONE INDIAN "BIRDWOMAN" WHO IN 1805 GUIDED THE LEWIS AND CLARK EXPEDITION / FROM THE MISSOURI RIVER TO THE YELLOWSTONE / ERECTED BY THE FEDERATED CLUBWOMEN AND SCHOOLCHILDREN OF NORTH DAKOTA / PRESENTED TO THE STATE OCTOBER 1910.^[1]

Crunelle used an Hidatsa woman, Mink Woman, as his model for the 12 foot tall statue that stands on a large rock on the east side of the capitol grounds. The statue was funded in part by the North Dakota federation of Women's Clubs.^[2]

National Statuary Hall Collection edit

Another casting of the work was made in 2003 and was placed in the National Statuary Hall Collection in the Capitol Building in Washington, D.C., one of the two statues there from North Dakota.^[3]

The statue in the National Statuary Hall Collection
Native woman with statue, Washington, D.C.

References edit

^ "Sakakawea, (sculpture)". Smithsonian Institution. Retrieved September 8, 2017.
^ Gridley, Marion E., America’s Indian Statues, a publication of The Amerindian, Chicago, Illinois, 1966, p. 62.
^ "Sakakawea Statue, U.S. Capitol for North Dakota". Architect of the Capitol. Archived from the original on January 19, 2024. Retrieved January 19, 2024.