Pioneer Family and Rooster

2002 Broken Arrow city centennial monument portraying local history and culture. It emphasizes the mixing of Native American and white cultures and local agricultural industry. The portrayal of a husband, wife, and their young son echoes other postwar pioneer family monuments.

This monument commemorates the Broken Arrow city centennial in 2002. Tulsa, Oklahoma, native J. David Nunneley's design was selected from among 13 finalists because it captured many aspects of Broken Arrow's history and culture. The rooster in the boy's arms and the basket of peaches capture aspects of the local agricultural industry.

Like other postwar pioneer family monuments, this statue features a young boy standing in front of his parents, prepared to lead them into the future. The Centennial Commemorative Statue Committee selected the piece because it “combined all the things that have made Broken Arrow a booming community—family, tradition, farming, heritage and hard work,” and even included a nod to the area’s Native American heritage.^[1] But wedding a meek Indian maiden to a strong white farmer gives an illusion of equality, while actually depicting the white takeover of Native lands and cultures. The large book that the Native woman carries suggests her embrace of the twin blessings of Euro-American education and Christianity carried West by white pioneer women. Yet her knee-length fringed buckskin dress and moccasins and the two braids hanging down below her shoulders mark the limits of her assimilation. In contrast, her husband’s cowboy boots and hat demonstrate his hardy white masculinity. Rather than embracing one another in marital unity, they stand apart, their arms crossing behind the boy as each separately guides their young son forward.

The statue's portrayal of the union of a white farmer and Native woman echoes a 1977 monument in front of the Oklahoma Territorial Museum in Guthrie. Statehood celebrates the marriage of Indian Territory and white settlers to create the state of Oklahoma.

1. Clark, Becky. "Centennial committee chooses sculptor for historical statue." Tulsa World (Tulsa, OK) June 19th, 2002. Broken Arrow Community World sec.

Prescott, Cynthia Culver. Pioneer Mother Monuments: Constructing Cultural Memory. Norman, OK. University of Oklahoma Press, 2019.