From the A Yankee in Dixie web site:
"Arts park traveled a 14-year road from idea to reality.
It’s where Gen. James E. Oglethorpe befriended Chief Tomochichi of the Yamacraw Indians.
It’s where Andrew Bryan built a church that in time would symbolize a slave’s right to religion and freedom.
And it’s where Brenda Johnson lived for 18 years, raising four sons, caring for neighbors and building lasting friendships.
The place is Yamacraw Village.
But the downtown neighborhood, bordered by Bay Street to the north and Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard to the east, hasn’t always sounded so historic, inspiring or familial. In fact, when some people think of Yamacraw Village, Johnson said, they think of rampant crime, ubiquitous drug abuse and pernicious unemployment.
“Everyone has a dim view of Yamacraw Village,” Johnson said.
That may soon change.
After a 14-year, communitywide effort, Yamacraw Village will be the site of the first square ever dedicated to the trials and triumphs of Savannah’s Native- and African-American past.
Called the Yamacraw Public Art Park, the square will open after a ribbon-cutting ceremony Saturday. Across the street from historic First Bryan Baptist Church, whose congregation was founded in 1788, the square uses art and history to represent pride of place, cultural heritage and community spirit.
“This park will take the focus off crime and show everyone we are not what they think we are,” Johnson, a member of the Yamacraw Public Art Project Committee, the group responsible for completing the square, said.
“We have kids who do well in school, who are good athletes and who have dreams. We’re no different from anyone else, but no one has seen that.”
A ‘community’ square
Proponents say the new square will be more than a symbolic gesture: It will draw visitors from the greater community and consequently revitalize the public housing community.
“Now we have a square where people can sit and rest just like in Franklin Square,” said the Rev. Edward L. Ellis Jr., pastor of First Bryan. “We expect more tourism with a square that lends itself to community activities, weddings and outdoor concerts.”
“It will be a draw for Chatham County and beyond.”
But that will only happen if people know about it, said Jerome Meadows, the artist hired 12 years ago to conceive, design and create the square.
As it is, Yamacraw Village is separated from the rest of the city, Meadows said. Only with proper marketing will the square stake a claim in the public’s imagination.
“That push has to come from those invested in the community,” Meadows said. “If tour buses stop and see the site, that would bring a level of interest that shows this community is part of the city, not abandoned by it.”
A dream of reconnecting Savannah
The idea for a new square came to the fore in 1992 during a two-year workshop run by Leadership Savannah, a training program affiliated with the Savannah Area Chamber of Commerce.
Class members were asked to think about something that would benefit the city, recalled founding member Terry Pindar.
Their idea: a public art project in an area needing the beautifying power of art.
A downtown neighborhood as historically significant as any quarter of the Historic District, Yamacraw Village was the perfect candidate for a beautification project, in particular the empty lot across from the First Bryan Baptist Church.
The idea was universally praised, said Tania Sammons, curator of the Owens-Thomas House and project committee member, in large part because of the overarching principle of community involvement.
The Leadership Savannah class, in seeking an artist for the project, invited a group of Yamacraw residents, church members, artists and educators, as well as representatives of the Housing Authority of Savannah, the federal agency that owned the lot, to lead the search.
“Rich and poor people, people of all faiths, people of different economic and educational backgrounds came together and made this happen,” Sammons said. “For a city like Savannah, where communities are still in some cases segregated, to push this through is incredible.”
Renamed the Yamacraw Public Art Project Committee, the group chose Meadows, a nationally recognized artist whose portfolio includes three Martin Luther King Jr. memorials and scores of inner-city installations around the country.
Meadows saw it as an opportunity to work within the community to see what residents wanted in their art. It was also a chance for his art to have an end beyond that of beauty by “bringing the community’s substance into visualized form.”
Sandy Glicken, a Housing Authority spokesperson, characterized the project this way: “Creating an art park similar to squares already connecting Savannah would help reconnect Yamacraw to the rest of Savannah.”
Meadows envisioned a park with a plaza; three bronze statues in the shape of dancing children; walls containing photo-etched panels depicting key moments in Yamacraw’s past; indigenous plants; and poles for banners announcing community and cultural events.
With plans accepted and a fund-raising campaign led by Arnold Tenenbaum, Meadows, flush with enthusiasm and inspiration, figured the whole thing would take a year.