William Edmondson, Lake Providence and Nashville s Forgotten History Thinking about the historically Black community s disappearance from Nashvilleâs collective memory Tweet
William EdmondsonPhoto: Louise Dahl-Wolfe
Long story short, William Edmondson was one of the most important artists to come out of Nashville. Born in 1876 to sharecroppers on the Compton farm (which was at the corner of Hillsboro and Harding), Edmondson and his mother and many of his brothers and sisters moved to Edgehill, where William took up sculpting. He was the first African American artist to have a solo show at MoMA. And he made a lot of headstones, many of which are still standing in Nashville and the surrounding areaâs African American cemeteries.
Tennessee State Museum To Commemorate 225 Years Of Tennessee’s Statehood Tuesday, March 2, 2021
The Tennessee State Museum will commemorate the 225th anniversary of Tennessee’s statehood in 2021 with Tennessee at 225: Highlights from the Collection, a self-guided tour within the Museum’s galleries complemented by an online exhibition, showcasing 100 artifacts from the Museum’s collection across five key themes. Those themes – Art, Community, Innovation, Service, and Transformation – encompass artifacts within all the Museum’s current galleries, ranging from as early as the Paleolithic period to 2020. Together, they tell an expansive story about Tennessee, from its first peoples to the present day. The self-guided tour and online exhibition will be available beginning June 1, Tennessee Statehood Day, and run through May 31, 2022.
Bridget R. Cooks. (Photo by Evelina Pentchev.)
This article is part of a series of conversations with scholars engaged with Black art for Black History Month. See also Folasade Ologundudu’s interviews with Richard J. Powell, Darby English, and Sarah Lewis.
In her much-discussed 2011 book,
Exhibiting Blackness: African Americans and the American Art Museum, Cooks looked at the ways that museums have perpetuated racial inequity through the presentation and curation of African American and African diaspora artists. Her account started with the very first show in America featuring African American artists, at the Art Institute of Chicago in 1927, and continued into the 21st century with the reception of figures including the Gee’s Bend quilters.
Remembering a survivor’s story
By Beth Sergent - bsergent@aimmediamidwest.com
From 2017, William Edmondson of King, N.C., pictured sitting, signs a book for Gina Cocklereece of Winston-Salem, N.C. Edmondson was a survivor of the Silver Bridge collapse and was driving a tractor trailer on Dec. 15, 1967 along with Cocklereece’s father, Harold Cundiff, who didn’t survive. They both visited Point Pleasant for the 50th anniversary of the tragedy in 2017.
Beth Sergent | OVP
(Editor’s note: The late William Edmondson became one of only a handful of survivors from the Silver Bridge disaster which claimed the lives of 46 people. Edmondson spoke with Ohio Valley Publishing in 2017, following a ceremony observing the 50th anniversary of the tragedy which occurred Dec. 15, 1967. He later passed away in 2018. His story, in his own words, is reprinted here on the 53rd anniversary of the collapse.)