Pioneer and Pioneer Mother Statue

The Pioneer statue celebrated the conquest of the “Anglo-Saxon race” over “savage Indians,” as declared at its installation and dedication ceremony in 1919 [1]. During settlement, genocidal violence against Indigenous peoples was widely supported, codified in policy, and practiced by government and settlers in Oregon [2]. Alexander Proctor, the statue’s sculptor, was particularly drawn to the violent nature of his subject, a man he called Big Frank, of whom he wrote killing a Native person was “all in a day’s work for him.” The Pioneer Mother, later commissioned and installed in 1932, was also sculpted by Proctor.  

As seen in the photos here and on the main guide map, the statues were situated in prominent campus locations to be admired by students. When standing, they faced each other, their gazes piercing the lobby of Johnson Hall. On a clear day, it was possible to see one statue from the other through Johnson’s glass doors. A campus legend has it that at some time during the 1920s, students staged a sit-in when the University considered replacing the doors with a fully wooden entry – one that would have blocked the statues’ line of sight [3].

But other students long protested the presence of the Pioneers. Citing concerns of their origins, the University Senate first drafted a measure in 1992 to have them removed, and staff and students likewise continued to educate and organize in the decades following. In 2019, 100 years after the original Pioneer’s dedication, a report that irrefutably established the statue’s white supremacist intent was delivered to then President Michael Schill, along with more calls from students. No response was given. [2]

The next year, on June 13th, 2020, a crowd gathered amidst the global pandemic and the George Floyd uprisings for a teach-in on the steps of Deady Hall (later renamed University Hall).  After the event ended, a group of activists – whose identities remain unknown – moved to the statues, first tearing down the Pioneer and dragging it across 13th Avenue, up the steps of Johnson Hall [4]. They then moved to the Pioneer Mother, toppling it with the same crowbars and sledgehammers. The remaining crowd cheered, many taking photos of and with the fallen monuments. Eventually all dispersed without any intervention from the University or police. The actions of the protestors were later supported by Indigenous faculty and students. 

Now that they are gone, most students on campus today are unaware of the statues’ existence. It may have been more impactful to leave them toppled in place, allowing moss and the rest of the landscape to overtake them (as some have suggested). Instead, UO placed the statues in storage to determine what to do with them. Now over five years later, the statues have disappeared and the current administration has no public plan regarding them. It appears the University would rather evade the reality that the Pioneers stood over campus as a monument to whiteness and domination for over 100 years than address and take responsibility for this part of our institution’s history. 

A Note From “Why They Had To Go” 

A statement on the fall of the Pioneer statues by the faculty of the UO Native American Studies Program and the Department of Indigenous, Race and Ethnic Studies [2] 

“This could have been a very different story if he [President Schill] had listened the first time and acted more resolutely, but that opportunity was lost. We hope that the decisive actions of those who pulled the statues down will serve as a reminder of the urgency of our fight against systemic racism. We can wait no longer, because the wait is killing us.”

A Question As You Visit: 

What are the effects of the University physically concealing where the statues once stood, and therefore the existence of the statues themselves?

REFERENCES: 

  1. Carpenter, Marc. Report on “Reconsidering The Pioneer, One Hundred Years Later,” 2019. 
  2. Guest Viewpoint, Eugene Weekly. Why they had to Go: Statement on the fall of the Pioneer statues. 6.25.20. eugeneweekly.com/2020/06/25/why-they-had-to-go/
  3. https://oregonnews.uoregon.edu/lccn/2004260239/2001-10-17/ed-1/seq-18/#words=doors+glass+Johnson 

Eugene Weekly. UO Pioneer Statues Taken Down By Unknown Activists, 6.14.20. eugeneweekly.com/2020/06/14/uo-pioneer-statues-taken-down-by-unknown-activists/