In 2019, the U.S. state of Nebraska donated a bronze sculpture of Standing Bear by Benjamin Victor to the National Statuary Hall Collection.

The group was arrested and detained by Brigadier General George Crook at Fort Omaha for having left the reservation without permission from the U.S. government.

Standing Bear brought a legal case in the U.S. District Court in Omaha, but the U.S. government argued that as a Native American "Indian", he was not a "person" under the meaning of the law.

Standing Bear v. Crook, Judge Elmer Dundy ruled on 12 May 1879 that "an Indian is a PERSON", and ordered the group to be released.

The subject is portrayed in traditional Native American clothing, with an eagle feather in his hair, a necklace of bear claws and two large Indian Peace Medals, and a pipe tomahawk in his left hand.