“Oto Missouri Man – July 1804” by Richard Vernon Greeves is a commanding bust that captures the quiet defiance and ceremonial pride of a man from the Oto-Missouri tribes—peoples whose early contact with the Lewis and Clark expedition would shape the very beginnings of recorded frontier history.

Rendered in bronze with a chiseled face and resolute jawline, the subject wears a headdress adorned with shell-like detailing and prominent feathers, their wide span almost defying the space around them. Rope earrings and a stoic gaze complete the expression of presence—calm, measured, unmistakably proud.

The date refers to one of the earliest meetings between the Corps of Discovery and the Native tribes of the Missouri River Valley. But Greeves reframes that encounter—not as submission, not as curiosity, but as enduring identity. This is not a footnote. This is a monument.