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The
Decision to Honor Po'pay
In 1999, the New Mexico Statuary
Hall Commission, with direction from the New Mexico Legislature,
called for the design and creation of a statue of the San Juan
Pueblo Indian strategist and warrior, Po'pay. Po'pay is renowned, respected and revered by
the Native Americans of New Mexico as the leader of the Pueblo Revolt of 1680.
The statue of Po'pay will join the figure of the late Senator Dennis Chavez as New
Mexico's second and final contribution to the Statuary Hall in the U.S. Capitol. The
decision to honor Po'pay is the culmination of years of effort headed up by Herman Agoyo of
San Juan Pueblo. "To the Pueblo people, Po'pay is our hero," says
Agoyo. Tribes were on the verge of losing their cultural identity when the
"Pueblo Revolt brought everything back on track," for the Native
people. "His role after the revolt is unclear, but the historic event
that he led in 1680 is as important as the American Revolution of 1776,"
states Agoyo. In November, 2000, Native American sculptor, Cliff Fragua, was
unanimously chosen by the New Mexico National Statuary Commission to sculpt the
second sculpture to represent and honor the State of New Mexico. The
sculpture is made of Tennessee marble and stands approximately 7 feet in
height. The statue of Po'pay was the last sculpture installed in the
National Statuary Hall September, 2005. |
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 "For
the Pueblo people, specifically, the greatest legacy of the Revolt of their
ancestors, has been that they have endured with their cultural integrity in
tact, free to speak their languages, live on their own lands, and perform their
ancient dances. Because of a desperate, despair-born gamble on the part of
the Pueblo people of 1680, their descendants have lived to find that their
cultural integrity is regarded as essential to the well-being of all New Mexico
and the Southwest. A successful revolution, it seems to me, can leave no
greater legacy." Alfonso Ortiz, (1939-1997) San Juan
Pueblo Next
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