A mural titled A Tribute to America's Warriors is displayed on the west-facing exterior wall of the SAC Art Gallery at 705 W. Rogers Blvd. in Skiatook. Tulsa painter and Navy veteran Lisa Hendricks created the work. TulsaPeople describes it as a 20-by-20-foot mural and reports that it was unveiled on a Saturday in late July; NewsOn6 describes it as 20 feet long.
Figures and history in the mural
Hendricks has said the Native American chief shown in the mural represents a figure watching over his land and people, according to TulsaPeople. Another figure represents the Buffalo Soldiers, the all-Black U.S. Army regiments formed by Congress in 1866, the outlet reports. The Army did not desegregate until 1948, according to the same account.
The National Museum of African American History and Culture says the Buffalo Soldiers supported westward expansion by protecting settlers, building roads and other infrastructure, and guarding U.S. mail. The museum also notes that soldiers served as some of the first national park rangers while the Army administered Yosemite and Sequoia National Parks from 1891 to 1913.
Donald Henderson, president of the Lawton chapter of the National Association of Buffalo Soldiers and Troopers Motorcycle Club, told TulsaPeople that Buffalo Soldiers had more Medal of Honor winners than any other unit during the American Indian Wars and the Spanish-American War. The outlet also reports that Hendricks received an Oklahoma State Senate Citation of Recognition for her service and the mural’s cultural contribution.
Hendricks and the gallery
Hendricks joined the Navy in 1981 after graduating from Edison High School and served for eight years. She became one of the first women to work in nuclear controls on submarines, then worked in radiological controls at Norfolk Naval Shipyard before returning to Tulsa in the mid-1990s, according to TulsaPeople.
The mural grew out of Hendricks’s connection with the gallery. TulsaPeople reports that Adina Forbes, who co-owns the SAC Art Gallery with her husband Gary, noticed Hendricks’s art on Facebook and that Hendricks began selling work there. Gary Forbes, a former U.S. Army Special Forces soldier, later suggested that she paint a mural inspired by a watercolor of soldiers and Indigenous figures. Adina Forbes told the outlet that veterans and local Native Americans visit the mural and express appreciation.
Accounts differ on the time Hendricks spent painting the mural: TulsaPeople reports 19 days, while NewsOn6 reports about two months. NewsOn6 also reports that Hendricks hoped residents would see the work as a source of unity.
