Fire Hosing -- Kelly Ingram park, Birmingham AL
N 33° 30.997 W 086° 48.820
16S E 517303 N 3708577
Third of three powerful sculptures by James Drake recalls the fire hoses turned on peaceful civil rights protesters by the Birmingham Fore Department in the early 1960s
Waymark Code: WM106H6
Location: Alabama, United States
Date Posted: 03/07/2019
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The most surprising aspect of this third of James Drake's amazingly powerful sculptures at Kelly Ingram Park is that as you walk along the Freedom Walk, all you see ahead of you is a blank steel archway. As you pass through the archway, immediately to your left are 2 terrified African-American figures crouching in protective stances on the other side. Until you come through that archway you can't know that they are there, so their sudden appearance so close to you, and the expressions on their faces heighten the surprise.
At the same moment that you see the figures, you see the other 2 pieces of this installation: Fire Department water cannons, that are aimed directly at you.
It's a brilliant way to evoke the fear and pain from being blasted by those water cannons, which is just another of the brutal treatments peaceful African-American protesters faced from Birmingham city government officials during the civil rights era.
Civil Right Type: Race (includes U.S. Civil Rights movement)
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