These Hudson Valley, NYC public art installations celebrate Black history, culture


The five-foot bronze statue greets travelers at Yonkersโ Metro-North station.
Before Ella Fitzgerald became known as the โFirst Lady of Song,โ she was raised in Yonkers. Decades before the height of the civil rights movement, Fitzgeraldโs jazz music career smashed color barriers as she became world renown for her melodic voice and scatting.
After becoming the first Black woman to win a Grammy Award she went on to win 12 more before her death in 1996.
The statue in Yonkers not only honors her career but also Black history, and itโs not the only place you can find such a monument.
Around the Hudson Valley, statues, markers and murals can be found honoring leaders of the Black community and cultural icons with ties to the region. And all can be seen forย during February and beyond. Hereโs a look at someย of the many options:
Editorโs note: This story was originally publishedย in August 2021, but we are bringing it back for readers during Black History Month:
Sojourner Truth on the Walkway
The statue of Ella Fitzgerald was created by ย Yonkers sculptor Vinnie Bagwell in 1996. More than two decades later, Bagwell was enlisted to create a statue to a very different icon on Black culture, which now stands at the Highland entrance to the Walkway Over the Hudson in Ulster County.
A seven-foot statue in honor of Sojourner Truth was unveiled in 2020, honoring the former slave who became an abolitionist and women's rights activist on the 100th anniversary of the 19th Amendmentโs ratification giving women the right to vote.
Truth was born into slavery in Ulster County with the name Isabella Baumfree and was sold three times before she escaped to freedom.
"Sojourner Truth is relevant today because of her strength, discipline, clarity, vocals," Bagwell said at the unveiling. "She is what today's kids call goals.ย We have a powerful potential in our youth. And we must have the courage to change old ideas and practices so that they may direct their power toward good ends."
Harriet Tubman in White Plains
A temporary monument to American abolitionist and political activist Harriet Tubman titled โThe Journey to Freedomโ created by ย award-winning sculptor Wesley Woffordย has been traveling around the United States. The monument has already been in residence inย Newburgh,ย Peekskill and Haverstraw in 2021 . It will stand in Renaissance Plaza in White Plains beginning in April. The city and the White Plains Business Improvement District are in the planning stages for related events and programming; details will be released in March. In November, the sculpture will move onto Kingston.
Walking through history in Newburgh
A walking tour titled โIn Washingtonโs Shadowโ in the City of Newburgh highlights historic locations, such as AME Zion Church, buildings used by former slave and Underground Railroad activist George Alsdorf, and the Colored School, which was the main school for Black students in Newburgh.
Signs for the tour begin at 93 Liberty St. and continue on Washington Avenue. Audio for the walking tour is available at soundandstory.org/directories/inwashingtonsshadow.html
'I Have a Dream'
Newburgh is also home to a monument dedicated to Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., designed by Beacon sculptor David Frech in 2015. The bronze statue features some of King's quotes from his "I Have a Dream" speech andย his "Letter from Birmingham."ย The statue can be found at the corner of Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard and Colden Street.
A bench in Nyack
There are plenty of places to find a seat in Nyack. At least one bench, though, offers history and a link to other activists around the world.
A "Bench by the Road" in Nyackย was dedicated to former slave and Underground Railroad activist Cynthia Hesdra by the Toni Morrison Society in 2015. Started in 2006, the โBench by the Roadโ project highlights the history of African American slaves and stands as a memorial for the absence of slaves.
Hesdra and her husband, Edward, operated an Underground Railroad safe house, helping numerous slaves along the Hudson River.
The bench at Nyackโs Memorial Park on Piermont Avenue was actually the 15th placed by the society. The first was placed at an African Slave Trade point of entry in Sullivanโs Island, South Carolina, and the second was at an Underground Railroad site in Oberlin, Ohio. Others can be found in such places as Paris; Atlanta, Jackson, Mississippi; and other areas. Most recently, the 25th bench was placed at Howard University in Washington, D.C. in 2019.
Remembering musical artists
Two icons of Black culture are remembered in their hometowns in Westchester.
A mural in Yonkers was recently completed to honor the late rapper DMX, who grew up in the city and also had ties to Mount Vernon. Born Earl Simmons, the hip hop legend died after suffering a heart attack in April at the age off 51.
In his memory, artist Floyd Simmonsย โ no relation to DMXย โ began working on the 35-by-22-foot mural in May. Itย was unveiled in July, displayingย verses from DMX'sย songs, "Look Through My Eyes" andย "School Street." It is painted on theย Yonkers public housing complex, Calcagno Homes on School Street, marking the legacy of the rapper'sย childhood home and memory.
Ten years earlier, Heavy D., a rapper who grew up in Mount Vernon, died at the age of 44. An art sculpture in the cityย titledย "Peaceful Journey" recognizes Dwight Errington Meyers. It was designed byย New Yorkย artist and college professorย Eto Otitigbe.
The monument at 43 Broad St. and West Fleetwood Avenue takes the shape of an arch made from Vermont marble and steel. The 20-footย sculpture illustrates harmonious balance and movement that represents the lives of people of color in Mountย Vernon.
A Cornwall pioneer
A historical marker across from Cornwall Central High School recognizes Harriet Josephine Terry, a Cornwall-on-Hudson native who was a pioneer in education. Terry was a founding member of Alpha Kappaย Alpha Sorority Inc. and anย educator for almost 40 years. Sheย was born in Orange County in, at the time, one of five Black families in Cornwall-on-Hudson. She was a graduate of Howard University, where she also wrote the hymnย for Alpha Kappa Alphaย Sorority Inc.
Terry also went on to teach English and historyย at Gloucester High School in Virginia, where she later became the head of the department. In her teaching career, she also taught English at Alabama A&M University.
The marker is located at 24 Idlewild Ave.
A burial ground in New York City
A bonus site to visit outside of the Hudson Valley was designed by Rodney Leon. The African Burial Ground National Monument is known as the largest known African American cemetery. In the late 1600s, the burial site was owned by Sara Van Borsum and used as a cemetery for African Americans, according to the National Park Service.
In 1991, the site at 290 Broadway was being prepared for a federal office building when archeologists excavated the bodies of 419 men, women, and children and 500 artifacts 30 feet below city ground. In 1933, the burial ground was designated aย New York City Historic District and as a national landmark. The African Ground Burial is the first national monument dedicated to Africans of early New York.
It consists of sevenย elements that symbolize the spiritual, physical, ritual, and psychological definition of re-interment where the African artifacts were found.ย The monumentย includes 22 Adinkra symbols that areย along the walkway of the monument and in the entrance. Theย granite headstone symbolizesย the ship that carried slaves through the Middle Passage and stands four stories high.