Freedom Walkway

Freedom Walkway celebrates the striving of the people of Rock Hill and the entire United States of America to achieve the promise of Liberty and Justice for All. At the birth of our nation, it was a founding principle that "all men are created equal" and that no person was to be deprived of "life, liberty or property without due process of law." Long after the Declaration of Independence, equality of rights and opportunities remained an unrealized ideal for many citizens. Many groups have felt the sting of injustice and marginalization while the country struggled to realize the promise of equality. Today, we are closer than ever to achieving our founders' promise of equality through the heroic works of ordinary citizens. As this walkway demonstrates, Rock Hill has given rise to its own heroes for justice and equality. Freedom Walkway is dedicated as a reminder to every citizen of this community and our nation that we are guaranteed the rights and freedoms that are the foundations of the American constitutional system., Design Concept , The design was inspired by the 2015 reopening of the court docket book to vacate the trespassing convictions of the Friendship 9. These African American men were jailed for integrating a whites-only lunch counter at the McCrory's Five and Dime on Main Street on January 31, 1961. The sit-in gave rise to an important strategy in the civil rights movement when they chose to serve time in jail rather than to pay the fines of an unjust system. The "jail, no bail" strategy was successfully replicated throughout the South. While the original intent of freedom walkway was to honor the Friendship 9, it has evolved into a tribute to social justice for all. Curving a brick patterns flow through the walkway to create a dynamic journey rich with symbolism, integrating the ideas of hope, Freedom, change, turbulence, obstacles, and friendship. Plants significant to Rock Hill are exuberantly painted and planted within the walkway with hopes of inspiring all who visit., Juan Logan , Born in Nashville. Tennessee, Juan Logan now lives and works in Belmont, North Carolina. Logan's artworks address subjects relevant to the American experience. At once abstract and representational, his paintings, drawings, sculptures, installations, and videos address the interconnections of race, place and power. They make visible how hierarchical relations and social stereotypes shape individuals, institutions, and the material and mental landscapes of contemporary life. "He has shown extensively nationally and internationally, has had numerous solo exhibitions, and many private and public commissions. Logan's works can be found in private, corporate and public collections, including the Whitney Museum of American Art, the Philadelphia Museum of Art, the Gibbes Museum of Art, the Baltimore Museum of Art, the Memphis Brooks Museum, the Zimmerli Museum of Art, the Boulder Museum of Contemporary Art and the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture., Laurel Holtzapple , Laurel Holzapple is a landscape architect and public artist. Laurel's work is influenced by the landscapes of memory, from the mountains of southwestern Pennsylyania, to the industrial port city of Genoa, Italy, and to the juxtapositions of the emerging Southern cityscape. After a decade in Philadelphia working as a landscape architect on projects throughout the country, Laurel founded groundworks studio in Charlotte NC in 2007. She creates imaginative landscapes of meaning that emerge from the culture and nature of the place. Her work explores the intersection of landscape and art, and spans a range of landscape typologies including college campuses, public art environments, social justice spaces, historic courtyards, and residential gardens. Project experience includes the National Gallery af Art Sculpture Garden, Toledo Museum of Art, Sculpture Walk, GAP Headquarters, Bard College, St Martin's Episcopal Church Fellowship Courtyard, and Reid Park Art., (footer) , Freedom Walkway is supported in part by awards from the National Endowment for the Arts and the Arts Council of York County, and by contributions from the Barre Mitchell Community Initiatives Fund. Vinyet Architecture is a major contributor to the fund. Freedom Walkway Is the first project of the Rock Hill Economic Development Corporation's Rock Hill designs for Rock Hill Places Initiative. It is designed to demonstrate that "locally created, locally inspired art" can add meaning and value to public investments in Rock Hill., (caption) , The arrest of the Friendship 9 encouraged the civil rights movement in Rock Hill. Picket lines of over 100 protesters marching on Main Street in February and March of 1961 caught national attention including full page spreads in the Baltimore Afro-American and support from the Student Non-Violent Coordinating Committee. This image, with the words "Liberty and Justice for All", inspired the design of Freedom Walkway. Photo courtesy of Joel Nichols.