By Reginald Allen | For The Birmingham Times
Wanda Carter has lived in the Smithfield community for 30 years and on Saturday was more the happy to be a part of the community’s Public Art Walk, a vibrant, walkable outdoor gallery celebrating the neighborhood’s past, present, and future.
“This celebration today is something that we’ve been needing for a long time,” she told The Birmingham Times. “This is well worth my work on this street. I put flowers in everyone’s yard. I swept. I cut grass. I did everything I had to do to make this perfect on this block…I want this to happen again.”
Lawrence Rose said it was a nice thing to have and “give a little excitement to the neighborhood. It gives people the chance to come out and enjoy themselves and enjoy the community as a whole,” he said.
Spanning key corridors in Smithfield, the Art Walk featured large-scale murals, storytelling installations, sidewalk poetry, and augmented reality experiences that immerse visitors in the spirit and stories of the historic community.
The Smithfield Art Walk initiative honored the neighborhood’s legacy as a cradle of African American resilience, activism, and culture. Through intentional collaborations with local creatives, residents, and organizations, the project invites the community to reclaim and reimagine public spaces.
Smithfield is one of the earliest Black neighborhoods in Birmingham and the home of A. H. Parker High School, the first four-year high school in the city for African Americans. At one time, it was considered to be the largest Black high school in the world. Many well-known figures emerged from the Smithfield area, including activist Angela Davis, Civil Rights attorney Arthur Shores, legendary musician and composer Sun-Ra, bandleader John T. “Fess” Whatley, and others.
Najah Reeves Najiy, who purchased a house in Smithfield in 2004, said, “The historical significance of the community is amazing. The people here demonstrated courage and resilience. I’m so proud to be a resident of this community.”
This initiative was a collaboration between the City of Birmingham’s Departments of Community Development and Innovation and Economic Opportunity, Create Birmingham, Birmingham Civil Rights Institute, and neighborhood partners committed to using art as a tool for healing, history keeping, and community investment.
