Items
Subject is exactly
Civil Rights movements
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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." -
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. -
Forgotten Foot Soldiers
Four oxidized vertical steel L-beams are arranged in decreasing height from left to right. Painted on the beams are "TO THE FORGOTTEN" "FOOT SOLDIERS" "THE HERO" and "1963." These beams are topped with metal trapezoid boxes. A metal chain is attached to the first, tallest beam, and attached to this chain are shoes, boots, and work gloves. Above the third beam is a metal pan painted with a face. To the right of this is a white motorcycle helmet supported by a wooden dowel, above which extends the aluminum crutch. Two diagonally attached metal pieces read "WE SHALL OVERCOME" and "GOD." Behind the vertical beams is a vertically positioned full metal bed frame, snaked with chain.