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.