Joe Minter's African Village in America

Items

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  Four Little Girls and Martin Luther King Jr.

  Assemblage; five metal chairs sit in a row across a wooden beam. Around them on the ground are arranged circled crosses. The chairs are painted with the names of the four girls who were killed in the 1963 bombing of 16th Street Baptist Church in Birmingham Alabama, and the name of Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. From the left, the chairs are labelled "CAROLE / IN JESUS / FREE AT LAST"; "CYNTHIA / IN JESUS / FREE AT LAST"; "MARTIN JESUS"; "ADDIE MAE / IN JESUS / FREE AT LAST"; "DENISE / IN JESUS / FREE AT LAST." The chair labelled for Rev. Dr. King is centered in the row. It is white, with padded arms and a rusted seat. Around the frame in black lettering reads excerpts from the "I Have a Dream" speech. There is a black cast of a pair of praying hands on the seat of the chair. The other four chairs are rusted metal folding chairs with no arms. The chairs labelled for Carole, Cynthia, and Addie Mae have bright yellow lettering. The chair labelled for Denise is painted bright yellow and has black lettering. On each of the chairs is a face formed out of wire. The faces for the four girls are smaller, and rest on the seats of their chairs. The face for Rev. Dr. King stands over the seat, resting against the back of the chair labelled for him. On the wooden beam are four silver metal signs with black lettering, each corresponding with the appropriate chair. From the left: "Carole Robtson [sic] / Birmingham AL / 1949 - 1963"; "Cynthia Wesley / Birmingham AL / 1949 - 1963"; "Addie M. Collins / Birmingham AL / 1949 - 1963"; "Denise McNair / Birmingham AL / 1951 - 1963". The beam is supported from beneath with four wooden posts and two pillars of cinder blocks. On the right side of the beam a metal pole extends up, and is topped by a hard hat. Behind the center of the supporting beam is a wooden post with a sign reading "FATHER FORGIVE" in bright yellow paint. A rusted chain links the top of the post with the chair labelled for Rev. Dr. King. Behind the beam and chairs are three circles of grey concrete paving stones. Within each is a wood mulch ground covering, a cross of narrow, red concrete paving stones, and a circular grey paving stone on one of the arms of the cross. On the left circle there is a conch shell. In front of the beam is a singular cross and circle arrangement, also with a conch shell on the grey stones encircling the cross. In commenting on this piece, Minter emphasizes "the least of those among us will bring us where we need to go because they are the closest to God."
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  Birmingham Jail

  The central piece of this assemblage comes in the form of a large cage structure with a pair of heavy metal doors attached to the front; the left door closed, and the right door open. Atop the cage doors is an attached wooden structure built in the shape of three crosses, with one wooden cross over the left corner, one over the right corner, and one in the center, built on top of the horizontal wooden board bridging the corner crosses. The wooden crosses are are draped with barbed wire, which is also stretched across the top of the cage in an interlacing pattern. Beneath the center wooden cross is a heavily oxidized metal sign. It is clear that this sign has been written on with yellow paint, however it has become largely unreadable due to weathering. Words and phrases like "GOD IS THE WAY," "BILLY CLUBS," "1963," and "WE PUT OUR LIFE" are visible. Diagonally attached on top of this weathered metal sign is another sign made of a white piece of wood, which has "MLK LETTER FORM / BIRMINGHAM JAIL / 1963" written on it in black paint. Beneath these two signs, the top horizontal bar of the cage reads "BIRMINGHAM FORGOTTEN FOOT SOLDIER WE SHALL OVERCOME" in yellow fading paint. The metal doors of the cage are also written on using yellow paint. The closed left door reads as follows: " GOD LOVE YOU / POLICE COMMISSIONER EUGENE / BULL CONNOR ORDERED HIS POL- / ICE OFFICERS TO USE FORCE ON / NON-VIOLENCE AFRICAN SCHOOL / CHILDREN CLERGY AND COMMUNITY / 12 AFRICAN CHURCHES HAD MASS / MEETINGS WEEKLY MAY 6 1963 MORE / THAN 8,000 AFRICAN PEOPLE ASSEM- / BLE 16TH ST BAPTIST CHURCH FOR MASS / DEMONSTRATIONS AFRICAN CHILDREN / FROM ELEMENTARY HIGH SCHOOL AND / COLLEGE IN KELLY-INGRAM PARK / TO PUT OUR LIFE ON THE LINE FOR / FREEDOM AND HUMAN RIGHTS WITH / GOD ON OUR SIDE / TO LEAD US ALL THE WAY / REV FRED SHUTTLESWORTH / REV DR MARTIN LUTHER KING / REV RALPH ABERNATHY / REV GARDNER / REV N.H. SMITH (FIRE BALL) / REV PHIEFER / REV COOPER / REV CALVIN WOOD-A WOOD / REV JESSEE DOUGLAS / REV ALFORD / REV ERSKINE FAULSH / DR CARLTON REESE / COLONEL JOHNSON (BUCK) / LILLY BROWN." The open right door reads as follows: "AN'T GONE LET NOBODY / TURN ME AROUND / JAMES BEVEL J ARMSTRONG / JAMES ORANGE G PRICE / LUCINDER ROBEY / TOMMY WRENN / JUDGE U.W. CLEMONS / QUINTIN MITHELL / PATTON / ATTY ARTHUR SHORES / ATTY OSCAR ADAMS / ATTY BAKER / TEATHER VERA BROWN / MEATBALL AND SUNSHINE / POOLE FUNERAL AGGASTON MOTEL / AFRICAN HIGH SCHOOLS 1963 / ULLMAN GEORGE C BELL / PARKER ROBERT C JOHNSON / CARVER GOODSON / WESTERN JACKSON / HOOPER CITY HAYES / ROSEDALE J.S. ABRAMS / AFRICAN COLLEGE 1963 / PAUL DULLEY WHITE (TALL PAUL) / SHELLY STEWART (PLAYBOY) / REV ERSKINE FAULSH / JOHNNY MCCLURE (JOHNNY JIVE) / WILLIE MCKINSTRY / JESSEE CHAMPION / JAMES LAY / WILLIE KELLEY JONES / ODIS BARNES / DAVID LEE JONES / GEORGE EUGENE / TIMOTHY." The right door is propped open with a working boot. Beside the open metal door on the right, a figure is constructed using metal rods, with one tall rod in the center and two smaller rods supporting it by leaning against the center rod diagonally. A metal plate is attached to the top of the rod, wearing a yellow hard hat helmet with the letters "BPD" in black paint written on it. The metal figure is adorned with working gloves, a mask of Marvel's "The Hulk," and a toy gun. A rope is tied to the end of the figure, which is tied on the other end to a stone dog guarding the cage's doors. Wrapped around the figure twice is a portion of a long fireman's hose, with faded painted words like "1963 BIRMINGHAM, AL POLICE" and "JESUS." The hose extends some distance to a wooden structure constructed of three tall wooden poles leaned against one another, with messages such as "COME TO JESUS" and "OVERCOME" written with white paint on a pole painted red, green, and yellow. A wooden triangle is nailed to the top of the structure with a small statue of an eagle positioned on it. The leftmost of the three wooden poles is taller than the other two, and has a wooden triangle nailed to it as well, pointing upward. Beneath this wooden structure is a collection of children's toys, including a bicycle and characters from the children's show Sesame Street as well as a round metal object painted with "PROVERBS 22 / 6 TRAIN UP A / CHILD IN THE / WAY HE SHOULD GO / AND WHEN HE IS / OLD HE WILL NOT / DEPART / FROM / IT." The rest of the yard space in front of the cage features a variety of items, including six dog statues in total, children's toys such as toy trucks and rocking horses, worker's hard hats, fire hydrants, and stones. A wooden bench also sits facing the cage, with four pairs of shoes lines up across the bench's seat. Inside of the cage is a black wooden figure, that has been painted with white stripes to appear to be dressed as a prisoner. The figure is wrapped in a steel chain with a lock on it, which encompasses the figures wrists, knees, and shoulders. An old white toilet is set to the left of the figure, with faded writing on the tank. A broken sink rests in the far right corner of the cage. Two separated metal bed headboards stand on either side of the cage. Along the cage's walls are masks of characters such as DC Comic's Batman, Raphael from the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, and Darth Vader from Star Wars. A base of concrete bricks supports the structure of the cage. Around the cage's perimeter working gloves and boots are chained to the bar.
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  Monument to the Footsoldiers

  Assemblage. Painted wood sign anchors an installation of cinder block pathways and cenotaphs. On the sign, the top horizontal reads "1963 16 St. BOMB - CHURCH / HOME - BHAM AL" in bright yellow paint. Below, seven white vertical wooden supports with black painted lettering. From the left, the vertical signs read in order: "HUMAN RIGHTS" / "RACISM" / "POLICE FIRE" / "DOGS GUNS CUB" [sic] / "PADDY WAGON" / "BULL" / "NON - VIOLENCE." Bottom of sign reads "GOD BLESS ALL / FOOTSOLDIER" in white painted lettering. The bottom section is irregularly shaped, and at the right, a vertical section extends up alongside the white verticals. White lettering on this section reads, vertically, "GO JAIL" and horizontally, "2 BE FREE." The sign rests on two piles of concrete blocks, and is topped by a motorcycle helmet painted white on the left side and red on the right, with the letters "B.P.D. / B.F.D." in white on the visor. Around the base of the sign is a ring of red concrete paving stones. A conch shell is placed on the base and on top of one of the concrete supports. A path of cinder block circles towards the sign and then away, and on either side are cenotaphs built of cinder blocks and topped with red concrete pavers and conch shells. At the bases of each cenotaph is another red concrete paver holding a pair of shoes. On the cenotaph immediately in front of the sigh there is a lion figurine in a metallic gold color. On the cenotaph immediately to the right is a yellow bust of a woman in prayer. In the inner curve of the path there is a central cenotaph surrounded by a ring of grey concrete paving stones. There are numerous pairs of shoes laid on the ring of stones.