Art installation in Elizabeth Park honors Black women of North Nashville

https://www.nashvillescene.com/arts_culture/an-art-installation-in-elizabeth-park-honors-black-women-of-north-nashville/article_49925a22-d624-11ec-9d28-e365c4e9b224.html

"Through the violence, uncertainty and chaos of the 20th century, the Black women of North Nashville carried on. They took their kids to school. They championed voting rights and desegregation. They built schools and institutions, went to work and organized gatherings. They cared for others in countless ways, and kept their community strong. 

Now a new art installation in Elizabeth Park aims to honor their contributions.

The project started in 2018 with Art Against Violence, an initiative by advocate and author M. Simone Boyd (who has contributed to the Scene). Art Against Violence aims to inspire North Nashville to “reject apathy, take strategic action and fight violence with youth employment.” Boyd, with a Metro Public Works grant and a partnership with the woodworking-apprenticeship program Maple Built, employed community youth to create a wood mosaic of Curlie McGruder, the late March for Freedom organizer, voting rights activist and president of the local NAACP chapter. She was also an advocate for the students leading the lunch counter sit-ins and Freedom Rides. The mosaic has hung in Elizabeth Park since 2018. 

This year, the installation has extended to include an 18-month exhibition honoring four more Black North Nashville women: Nora Evelyn Ransom, Mary Louise Watson, Willie Mae Boddie and Juno Frankie Pierce. They and McGruder are five of the many Black women who defined a community known not just for its headlines, but for its care for others, says Boyd."...(more)