The vivid, freshly installed murals dazzle in the sun. White and educator Johnnetta Cole, former director of the Smithsonian Institution’s National Museum of African Art, both Jacksonville natives. The third depicts educator, soprano and humanitarian Eartha M.M. Another shows the late civil rights leader Rutledge Pearson, one-time President of the Jacksonville Branch of the NAACP, and Jacksonville historian and author Rodney L. World-renowned writer and anthropologist, Zora Neale Hurston, who grew up in Eatonville, Florida near Orlando, joins Jacksonville poet and performer Ebony Payne-English on one mural. Puerto Rican mosaic artist Celso González Quiñones has exuberantly memorialized six Black dignitaries, two-by-two, in three murals installed side-by-side along an outer wall at the Jessie.

The Jessie exists in what was once the Haydon Burns Public Library, a minty green mid-century modern architectural gem worth a peep in its own right. The city renamed the park last year to honor the famous civil rights activist, lawyer, educator, composer and Jacksonville native who wrote “Life Ev’ry Voice and Sing,” commonly known as the Black National Anthem.Īlso recognizing the area’s surprisingly rich–and mostly undiscovered–history of national Black leadership is a new mural project put up last fall at the Jessie Ball duPont Center, two blocks from MOCA. One small signal of progress can be found across Laura Street from MOCA Jacksonville with James Weldon Johnson Park. It’s most notorious such event, Axe Handle Saturday, marked its 60 th anniversary in 2020. Wall text informs that Adinkra symbols from West Africa are included along with ancient symbols adopted by supremacist groups in the 20th century.Īs with everywhere in the South, Jacksonville has had a difficult, violent history of racism and white supremacy. The installation takes on an additionally sinister tone as viewers inspect the fabulously patterned walls to discover Confederate flags. Televisions mounted to the second story feature harrowing newsreel footage of police violence against minorities including the murder of George Floyd, the beating of Rodney King, the shooting death of Philandro Castile and others. What does it mean to them? Who does it leave out? Does such a thing really exist? Video monitors on the ground level play responses from Jacksonville residents asked about the “American Dream.” On view through March 21, Williams’ artwork not only fills the eyes, but the ears as well. Williams’ vibrant, rhythmic geometric patterns, inspired by African-American quilt patterns and ancient geometry, is the latest in the museum’s “Project Atrium.” Presently, Carl Joe Williams’ Making Great Lives Matter installation, filling the 40-foot-tall atrium of the Museum of Contemporary Art Jacksonville, stands as the highlight.

In the far northeast corner of the state, Jacksonville has an arts scene worth exploring as well. Each, for its own reasons, has become a standout cultural destination. Petersburg and Palm Beach receive the lion’s share of cultural attention in Florida.

Minority Artists And Experiences Highlighted Across Jacksonville, Florida, This Winterįorbes invites residents and visitors alike to experience the artistry that adorns exterior and interior walls of downtown Jacksonville and surrounding neighborhoods, particularly by minority artists.

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