A public art display created by Metro Arts to honor veterans of the Nashville Civil Rights Movement called "Witness Walls" is scheduled to be dedicated in April, and on Thursday, News Channel 5 was given an exclusive first look of the walls and the progress being made.
"Sometimes when I used the term 'artwork,' that doesn't seem strong enough. This is history," Vencen Horsley, a Nashville civil rights veteran who has been working with Metro Arts on the Witness Walls project, said.
Thursday was Horsley's first time seeing the Witness Walls in place, and while a water feature, music elements, and landscaping still need to be done, he was moved by the monument.
"I'm just using my imagination as to who some of these people are," Horsley said of the shadows of faces on the walls.
The walls tell a story of overcoming hate and racism to fight for equality.
"Not only was discrimination reality, but was also legal," Horsley recalled, adding that he started participating in marches and sit-ins when he was just 17-years-old. "I was arrested seven or eight times."
Nashville was known for it's peaceful protests, but sometimes, people got violent toward the protesters.
"You couldn't allow some physical abuse to become a distraction," Horsley explained.
The wall is intentionally designed to paint a picture, but not the whole picture, leaving faces unidentifiable. That's because so many people participated in the movement, that it can't be attributed to just one individual or one group.
"It's all about the community. It's about all the people that were involved in that, and I just feel very privileged to be one of them," Horsley said.
As apart of the launch of the Witness Walls, Metro Arts collaborated with One Voice Nashville to create the "My Witness" podcast series. (http://www.witnesswalls.com/podcasts)
The podcasts feature interviews pairing Metro Nashville high school students with Nashville Civil Rights activists. There is also a podcast with the artist, Walter Hood, where he discusses his inspirations and hopes for how people will experience the Witness Walls.
The Witness Walls public dedication event is scheduled for Friday, April 21, 2017 at 2 pm at the Witness Walls site in Public Square Park.
