Status Quo Framework. Explore definitions here.
Introduction
Texas is known as the “Lone Star State” because of the flag that was adopted after Texas gained independence from Mexico in 1836. The state’s name is derived from the indigenous Caddo word for friends or allies. Texas was admitted as the 28th state in the Union on December 29, 1845, after being an independent nation for nine years. In 1861, Texas left the Union to ally with the Confederacy but officially rejoined the US in 1870.
In the 179 years since it first joined the United States, Texas has boasted some of the most beautiful parks and interesting cities in the country, including Big Bend National Park and the city of San Antonio. In addition to a large and vibrant Hispanic population, Texas is home to several Native American tribes, including the Alabama-Coushatta, the Tigua, and the Kickapoo. In a nod to its rich history, Texas is also home to significant memorials such as the Sam Houston Monument in Houston.
Section 1: Monument to Sam Houston in Houston, Texas
On a sunny midsummer afternoon, the scent of the nearby Gulf of Mexico fills the heavy, moist air as Houstonians flee indoors to avoid the heat. Hermann Park is quiet and motionless–the massive monument to Texas’s best-known general and statesman rising alone in the center of Hermann Park Drive.
South View of the Sam Houston Monument at Hermann Park in Houston, Texas. Photo Credit: G. C. Correa.
Since its inception in 1992, the Hermann Park Conservancy has used more than $120 million in funds from both the public and private sector to rehabilitate and transform significant portions of the park. Hermann Park welcomes more than six million visitors annually. Many, if not most, visitors see the grand and powerful monument to Sam Houston.
1.1. Historical Context
Samuel Houston (March 2, 1793-July 26, 1863) was a general, statesman, and key figure in the Texas Revolution. He was one of the first to represent Texas in the US Senate, and he served as the first and third president of the Republic of Texas. Houston was also the only person to be elected governor of two different states in the US, serving as the sixth governor of Tennessee and the seventh governor of Texas.
Houston’s family moved from Rockbridge County, Virginia, to Maryville, Tennessee when he was a teenager. After this, Houston established a relationship with Cherokee people that would prove to be life-long. In the War of 1812, he served alongside General Andrew Jackson. Despite his close personal ties to people within the Cherokee Nation, Houston presided over the mass displacement of the Cherokee from Tennessee after the war. Houston was elected to the US House of Representatives in 1823 with the help of Andrew Jackson and others. Five years later, he was elected governor of Tennessee after fervently backing Jackson’s presidential bids.
During Jackson’s presidency, several local Native American tribes asked Houston to resolve conflicts and convey their needs to the Jackson administration. Houston traveled to Washington D.C. to conduct negotiations on their behalf.
In 1832, Houston moved to Texas. He assisted in setting up Texas’ temporary administration following the Battle of Gonzales (the first battle of the Texas Revolution) and was chosen to be commander-in-chief of the Texas Army. During the Battle of San Jacinto, the pivotal fight in Texas’ war for independence from Mexico, he led the Texans to victory.
Houston was elected president of Texas in 1836 following the conflict. Due to term constraints, he resigned in 1838, but he was re-elected president in 1841. Houston was chosen to represent Texas in the US Senate in 1846 after playing a significant part in the annexation of Texas by the United States in 1845. He became a member of the Democratic Party and backed President James K. Polk in pursuing the Mexican-American War (1846-1848).
Houston’s unionism and hostility to both Northern and Southern extremists were defining characteristics of his Senate career. He supported the Compromise of 1850, which resolved numerous territorial disputes brought on by the annexation of Texas and the Mexican-American War. He opposed the Kansas-Nebraska Act of 1854 because he thought that its provisions allowing the spread of slavery into newly formed states would fuel regional strife. Houston himself enslaved more than a dozen people of African descent during his lifetime.
After voting against the act, Houston left the Democratic Party. He ran unsuccessfully to be the American Party’s presidential candidate in 1856 and the Constitutional Union Party’s candidate in 1860. Houston was elected governor of Texas in 1859. In this capacity, he opposed secession and attempted to prevent Texas from joining the Confederate States of America. He was removed from power in 1861 and died in 1863.
1.2. Creation of the Monument
The monument to Sam Houston is a public work of art in a public space—namely, a roundabout at the front entrance to Hermann Park on Hermann Park Drive in downtown Houston. In his 1916 design for Hermann Park, landscape architect George Kessler suggested a memorial circle. The Houston Chronicle began raising funds to construct a monument to Sam Houston as early as 1917. The Women’s Municipal Club of Houston raised $40,000, the city government contributed $10,000, and the state government contributed $25,000 toward the cost of fabrication.
A publicity campaign in national magazines urged artists to submit designs. Following a three-night exhibition of the entries in Houston’s Humble Oil Building, a distinguished group of Houstonians chose the design of Italian American sculptor Enrico Cerracchio (1880–1956). Sam Houston’s great granddaughter unveiled the monument on August 16, 1925, and lumber magnate John Henry Kirby performed the dedication.
The painting General Sam Houston at San Jacinto by Stephen Seymour Thomas had inspired Cerracchio’s design. Houston appears in a long cape and military garb astride his horse Saracen, extending his right arm in the direction of the battleground of San Jacinto, where Texan troops defeated the Mexican army in 1836. The 20-foot-tall statue stands on a granite arch that is approximately 25 feet tall.
The plaque under the arch briefly references the problematic nature of the monument:
Although one of the most controversial figures in Texas history, Sam Houston was also one of the most colorful.
The Sam Houston Monument is part of the City of Houston’s Civic Art Collection. The Houston Municipal Arts Commission managed the monument until 2006, when it merged with the Civic Arts Committee and the Cultural Arts Council to become the Houston Arts Alliance (HAA) (Houston Public Library, n.d.). The Houston Arts Alliance is a nonprofit agency that works through contracts with the City of Houston under purview of the Mayor’s Office of Cultural Affairs (MOCA). The MOCA operates under review of the City Council’s Arts and Culture Committee.
HAA’s Civic Art and Design Division manages the City of Houston’s Civic Art Collection. The stated values of the HAA are dedication to the arts, integrity, service, respect, empowerment, transparency, and teamwork (Houston Arts Alliance, n.d.).
Section 2: Sam Houston
2.1. Houston as White Supremacist
Though there has been no physical harm to the Houston monument, some individuals and groups have spoken out against it. In a Facebook post promoting a rally in May 2017, Texas Antifa asserted:
Texans agree the disgusting idols of America’s dark days of slavery must be removed to bring internal peace to our country. Several large groups of BLM have also pledged their support for this historic rally against the idols of an oppressive history, hence the name “Anti-Oppression Rally” – These statues are a slap in the face of all Black Americans! (Hlavaty, 2017).
Texas Antifa’s protest never materialized. However, a rally by supporters of Sam Houston did occur in June 2017 to defend the statue after Texas Antifa’s Facebook post advocating for its removal circulated (Lewis, 2017). While there was ultimately no public show of opposition, there was a clear demonstration of support in defense of the Sam Houston Monument as it stands.
Much of the controversy surrounding the Sam Houston monument stems from the fact that Houston enslaved people of African descent. He also played a pivotal role in the Battle of San Jacinto in 1836, which paved the way for Texas to become an independent republic. Texas held that status until it became a US state in 1845. The idea of Manifest Destiny had gained a foothold in the US, and Texas statehood was seen by some as validation of unending westward expansion. However, Mexico had not yet acknowledged Texas’ independence. The Mexican-American War (1846-48) resulted in a US victory, American control over a vast new territory, and passionate debate over the expansion of slavery.
2.2. Houston as Hero
Houston’s supporters maintain that he did much that was good for the state of Texas, and they point out that in his public life he was anti-slavery. As a senator, Houston voted against the expansion of slavery into the young United States’ newest territories. He was also removed as the governor of Texas for not falling in line with other secessionist Southern states when the Civil War began.
Cary Wintz, Ph.D., Distinguished Professor of History at Texas Southern University in Houston, asserts that:
His involvement in the Mexican-American War was limited. He was not a general in that war. Mexico lost control of Texas. He did not support the Confederacy. I think that should be celebrated (Correa, 2022).
Many Texans celebrate Houston’s military prowess and ingenuity–traits that proved decisive in the fight for Texan independence at the Battle of San Jacinto. Houston is also admired as the first president of the Lone Star Republic and one of the first two US senators to represent Texas after it joined the Union in 1845.
Section 3: Site Selection
How much does imagery add to an oppressive environment? Named for oilman and philanthropist George H. Hermann (1843-1914), Hermann Park was Houston’s first park. It was initially part of an extensive urban planning project. In 1914, George H. Hermann, who owned large swaths of land in the region and was a member of the city’s parks board, bequeathed the tract to be used as a public green space.
The large and dramatic monument to Sam Houston was prominently placed at the center of a busy roundabout to honor Houston’s multiple important roles in Texas history. A nonprofit group called the Hermann Park Conservancy, established in 1992, looks after the park’s landmarks.
Section 4: Framework – Status Quo
The Sam Houston Monument remains in its location. In the framework developed by the Monuments Toolkit team, the monument is status quo, defined as:
The act of inaction. Allowing the monument to exist without any type of intervention.
The framework for this monument is status quo because it remains whole, intact and without significant alterations in its current and original place. As of the writing of this case study, no decisions, actions or definitive statements have been made to change the location of the monument. The Hermann Park Conservancy continues to maintain the monument.
The Director of the Mayor’s Office of Cultural Affairs and the President of the Hermann Park Conservancy were contacted at the time of writing for their perspectives on the monument’s position as status quo, but could not be reached.
4.1. Houston’s Confederate Items Task Force
Following the violent “Unite the Right” rally in Charlottesville, Virginia, Houston Mayor Sylvester Turner called for the creation of a task force to study Houston’s Confederate monuments. The Task Force included city officials, scholars, and community leaders that assessed Houston’s monuments connected to slavery and the Confederacy while considering actions such as removal, relocation, and reinterpretation. The task force was called for in August 2017, just a few months after Texas Antifa’s facebook post and the rally in support of the Sam Houston statue.
Following the group’s investigation, the City of Houston Confederate Items Task Force Final Report was published in March 2018. The report’s appendix, “Statues in city art collection related to Confederacy and/or subjects with ties to Civil War or slavery,” includes the Sam Houston Monument located in Hermann Park. The “concern” is listed as “Sam Houston was a slave owner but opposed the expansion of slavery and Texas joining the Confederacy” (City of Houston Confederate Items Task Force Final Report 2018, Appendix).
Ultimately, the City of Houston Confederate Items Task Force issued recommendations for the removal of two Confederate statues from public grounds. Their fate would be up to the Mayor. Though the Sam Houston Monument was identified in the report’s item inventory, it was not chosen for further investigation or recommendation by the Task Force. The report addresses its limited scope:
While there was a consensus among the Task Force members that all items included on the inventory list could benefit from further public awareness about their place in history and context, it was determined that the scope of the Task Force should remain focused on specific recommendations for City-owned objects related to the Confederacy (ibid., 5).
The two chosen Confederate monuments, the Spirit of the Confederacy and Statue of Dick Dowling, were removed from public view in 2020. In October 2023, the Houston City Council passed an ordinance deaccessioning the two statues as well as a statue of Christopher Columbus from the City of Houston’s Civic Art Collection. The statue of Columbus was not addressed by the Task Force in 2018, but “after multiple instances of vandalism, the Christopher Columbus statue was similarly deemed to be unsuitable for public display by City of Houston senior staff members” (Houston City Council, 2023). There is no evidence that a further assessment of the Sam Houston Monument as an item “with ties to Civil War or slavery” (City of Houston Confederate Items Task Force Final Report 2018, Appendix) ever occurred. As the Task Force did not identify the Sam Houston statue as requiring a specific recommendation, it is likely that opposition to the monument did not pose a significant obstacle to civic peace.
4.2. Legislation Proposed in Response
In response to the controversy around the Sam Houston Monument in 2017, Texas State Senator Brandon Creighton (R-Conroe) introduced Senate Bill (S.B.) 112 to “protect Texas’ heritage and history” to the state legislature (Texas State Senate, 2017). S.B. 112 prevented any historical monument or memorial that had been on public land for more than 40 years from being removed, altered or renamed. In this bill, a “monument or memorial” was defined as a “permanent monument, memorial, or other designation, including a statue, portrait, plaque, seal, symbol, building name, bridge name, park name, area name or street name” (T.X. S.B. 112, 2017). This bill was designed to severely limit the ability to alter the status of any Texas monument located on public land.
In a Senate of Texas press release, the action around the Sam Houston monument in May/June 2017 is cited as evidence for the necessity of the legislation’s introduction. The press release states:
This legislation is necessary as shown by recent attempts across the state to remove valuable pieces of history from the public. A rally occurred in Hermann Park in Houston earlier this year regarding the removal of the Sam Houston statue. Sam Houston is the namesake of the City of Houston and one of Texas’ most important founding fathers (Texas State Senate, 2017).
The bill did not pass in either chamber of the Texas State Legislature. However, Brandon Creighton introduced an almost identical bill to the Texas Senate in 2019. This bill, S.B. 1663, passed the State Senate, but was stalled in the House. During debate over S.B. 1663, Senator Borris Miles (D- Houston) called the bill “disgraceful” (Samuels, 2019). In 2021, Texas State Representative Bryan Slaton (R- Royse City) introduced Assembly Bill 2571 with similar language as the previously mentioned bills banning removal, alteration, or relocation of monuments that had been on state property for over 40 years. The bill died in the House chamber.
Section 5: Conclusion
There has been little public opposition to the Sam Houston Monument in Hermann Park since its creation. Texas Antifa’s opposition effort never materialized. However, it prompted a significant show of support for the monument from the Houston community. It also led to a statewide legislative effort by one Texas State Senator in 2017 to establish a status quo position for all monuments that had existed on public land for more than 40 years. Though the bill did not pass, it was reintroduced to the legislature with slight modifications in 2019 and 2021. These actions speak to the body of support behind maintaining the Sam Houston Monument in the position of status quo.
Though the monument was considered as a piece of Houston public art with ties to slavery, it was not chosen for further assessment by the City of Houston Confederate Items Task Force in 2018. Without additional protest or vandalism surrounding the statue, it appears that the Sam Houston Monument will continue to exist as part of the Houston monument landscape.
References
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