Mayor Reed announces new civil rights memorial garden in West Montgomery

Plans to revitalize the Selma-to-Montgomery National Historic Trail have been in the works for years, and this Saturday Montgomery Mayor Steven Reed and other local leaders will complete one of the cornerstones of the project: the St. Jude Sculptural Corner Garden.

“We see a lot of opportunity, but this being the foundation of our redevelopment and our efforts in this area, we're ready to do our part,” Reed said at a news conference last week. “We're making great progress.”

Located at the intersection of Oak Street and West Fairview Avenue, the garden will surround the sculpture of protesters at Campsite 4. Right now, there is only soil in the space, but Reed said they will return to plant the garden on March 25.

On that day in 1965, the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. and thousands of foot soldiers of the civil rights movement left that campsite at the City of St. Jude and marched onto the steps of the Alabama State Capitol building. This was part of a five-day march from Selma, completing the journey that John Lewis and other protesters planned to make two weeks earlier but were violently halted after crossing the Edmund Pettus Bridge.

This year on that date, community members are invited to join local leaders in remembering the march for Black voting rights and planting the memorial garden at 11 a.m. in front of the St. Jude campsite. The planting ceremony will be followed by an Oak Street Block Party at The King’s Canvas, an art nonprofit that is celebrating its fifth anniversary this year.

Funding from the Montgomery Clean City Commission and support from the City of Montgomery and the Conservation Fund made the project possible. Reed also said community buy-in was crucial to bringing the garden to life.

Community leaders, including several who have been named Montgomery Advertiser Community Heroes, participated in the project and were present for Reed’s announcement on Thursday. They included The King’s Canvas cofounder Kevin King, the city’s senior development manager Lois Cortell and Montgomery Clean City Commissioner Demetrious Pruitt.

Pruitt was the first to suggest to the Clean City Commission that they fund a garden in the area.

“I brought up St. Jude and told them that it's time for us to really get involved and try to make this a part of this community, to revitalize it and just make people proud when they pass by this corner,” Pruitt said. “What you see is just hard work.”

The sculpture garden is also part of the city’s overall efforts to make improvements for West Montgomery.

The King’s Canvas was one of several groups to contribute to organizing and funding this first step. Its location is on the opposite end of the block from where the new garden sits.

“I've been in West Montgomery for probably about 15 years, so my heart is here,” King said. “We sought to not only beautify the area, but it's encouraged businesses to start renovating and move to the area. We just want to improve our overall quality of life and quality of place at the corner of Oak and Early Street.”

Reed said the garden is just the beginning of the “complete community revitalization” to come. He said new sidewalks, widened streetscapes, quality affordable housing, increased lighting and more safety measures are all to come.

Hadley Hitson covers the rural South for the Montgomery Advertiser and Report for America. She can be reached at hhitson@gannett.com. To support her work, subscribe to the Advertiser or donate to Report for America.

This article originally appeared on Montgomery Advertiser: City revitalizes Selma-to-Montgomery Trail with West Montgomery garden