Willa Cather Statue in the US Capitol

On June 7th, 2023, Nebraska dedicated the statue of the author Willa Cather to the National Statuary Hall Collection. Her statue is the 12th statue honoring a woman in the collection, the first of a Pulitzer Prize winner, and the first that an African-American sculptor created.

Willa Cather (1873-1947) relocated from Virginia to frontier Nebraska when she was 9. Soon she started writing and publishing in local newspapers. At 16, Cather studied science at the University of Nebraska–Lincoln while continuing to write, edit and publish in journals and magazines. Soon, she realized writing was her true passion and changed her major to English, graduating in 1895. Cather moved to Pittsburgh and worked as a writer and editor in local newspapers and as a teacher in several high schools. At 30, she published her first poetry collection, followed by her first short stories collection. Nine years later, while living in New York City, Cather published her first novel, the first of 12 she would write. She became known for portrayals of the frontier, pioneering settlers, and their relationships with the western landscapes, often drawing inspiration from her experiences and the people she encountered while growing up in Nebraska. In 1923, Cather won the Pulitzer Prize for the novel One of Ours (Published in 1922). In her lifetime, she wrote 12 novels, two poetry books, and seven short story collections (three were published post-mortem).

The sculptor Littleton Alston won the commission for the statue. He depicted Cather as a confident writer at around age 40, holding pen and papers in her left hand and a walking cane in her right, walking in the Nebraska prairie, the scenery of many of her writings. Next to her on the ground are the Nebraska state flower, the goldenrod, and the Nebraska state bird, the Western meadowlark). A snake ring on her left hand and the embroidered details wool jacket represent her love of fashion.
The pedestal reads:
“Willa Cather
AUTHOR
1873- 1947
“The history of every country
begins in the heart of a man or a woman.”
O PIONEERS!”