Muscogee dismayed by nearly naked statue of Georgia ancestor

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February 7th, 2022

chief tomochichi
A statue depicting Chief Tomochichi, a Muscogee native who signed the 1733 Treaty of Savannah that launched the Georgia colony, pictured here on Dec. 20, 2021 in its temporary location outside Atlanta's Millennium Gate Museum. Plans for Atlanta's Peace Park include installing the statue atop a 110-foot high pedestal where it would tower over statues of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. and other civil rights leaders. (AP Photo/Michael Warren)

There’s a problem with putting someone on a pedestal: Exposed on all sides, a hero to some can be seen as a traitor to others.

Atlanta plans to install a statue of a Native American man atop a 110-foot (34-meter) column in its new Peace Park, where it will tower over statues of 17 civil rights icons, including the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.

Developer Rodney Mims Cook Jr. calls Chief Tomochichi “a co-founder of Georgia” who prevented massacres by warmly inviting British Gen. James Oglethorpe to colonize his people’s land in 1733.

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