‘A tribute to those who helped to build this city,’ vibrant murals sweep Columbia
Black activists beam from a wall in Hyatt Park. Sarah Mae Flemming looks out from a vintage bus in Woodland Park. In Valencia Park, Black children leading the cause of integration stride through the doorway of an elementary school. On Main Street, a historic business district roars to life.
Across the four political districts of Columbia, these scenes are the latest homage to the city’s rich African American history and experience.
“This wall is a textbook,” said Bobby Donaldson, standing in front of the 300-by-600-foot mural at 1401 Main St. depicting the former downtown Black business district. “It becomes a way to ... open up a new chapter in the history of Columbia. ...
“This wall is a reminder of an extraordinary community, an extraordinary group of African American professionals who, despite segregation, built a world for themselves. It’s a tribute to those who helped to build this city.”
The four new murals, all completed over the past few weeks, are the products of a $50,000 effort by Columbia’s nonprofit parks foundation.
In addition to the Main Street mural, which honors the themes of entrepreneurship and business opportunity, the project also includes:
▪ At Hyatt Park in North Columbia, a mural depicting several prominent Black citizens, including educator Septima Poinsette Clark, civil rights activist Benjamin Mack and journalist and TV personality Listervelt Middleton.
▪ At Woodland Park off Garners Ferry Road, a mural depicting Sarah Mae Flemming, an African American Eastover resident who, in June 1954, took a seat in a “whites only” section of a segregated city bus. She was attacked by the bus driver and eventually filed a lawsuit against the owners of the bus company. The Flemming incident happened more than a year ahead of the much more heralded Rosa Parks bus incident in Alabama.
▪ And at Valencia Park in Rosewood, a mural depicting young African American students integrating schools in Columbia in the 1960s.
Local artist Ija Charles completed the Main Street mural; local artist McLellan Douglas completed the Rosewood mural; husband and wife art team Sarah and Andrew McWilson, of Hand in Hand Creative, completed the Woodland Park mural; and Cienna Minniefield from the New Freedom Project completed the Hyatt Park mural.
“We want to have people visit the city and see that vibrancy in our public art, know that this city is talented, creative, exciting, walkable — all of those elements that public art lends to a city,” said Lee Snelgrove, director of One Columbia for Arts and Culture and a member of city’s parks foundation. “These projects are great for Columbia. I think it’s good to tell this story.”
This new series of murals, Donaldson said, “helps us to fill in gaps. It helps us to fill in some of the silences of our history and hopefully educate a new generation of people about the extraordinary history of African Americans in Columbia.”
The murals are located at 1401 Main St., 6500 Olde Knight Parkway (Woodland Park), 950 Jackson Ave. (Hyatt Park) and 3744 Montgomery Ave. (Valencia Park).
Chris Trainor contributed to this report.