 So excited to be here with you all. Neglectful of the reference providence. Some of you think about the, if we planned this for yesterday, what kind of day we would have had in Columbia South, come on you get five, five seasons every week. You never know what you might get. This is a beautiful day that's befitting of the, of this amazing piece of art that's being officially unveiled. We're going to be joined by several members of our city council. Mr. McDowell is on the agenda, have a councilwoman Tamika Isaac Devine, a councilman Sam Davis. We have our city manager, Teresa Wilson, several of our city officials. I'd be remiss if I didn't recognize Henry Simons, who has been wonderful in shepherding this project in partnership with one Columbia and Lee Snelgroves team, Dr. Donaldson, who's been nothing less than a guide and seer for this project as we've determined that we would use public art as an opportunity to not only elevate these amazingly gifted and talented individuals who live in our city, but use it as an opportunity to edify the city, to tell the story of the African seed in the American sun and how since before the very birth of this city that Black folk have been helping build this city. And it's not just about looking back, it's about looking forward. How indeed does this inform our future and help us build the most talented educated entrepreneurial and equitable city in America? The Columbia Parks and Foundation Mural Project is a collaborative effort integrating the tapestry of Columbia's African American history in each of our four different council districts exhibited as large-scale pieces of public art. These murals each use individual artistic styles to convey different significant moments or touchstones of culture from our city's African American legacy, rendered in to vivid expressions of courage, resilience, hope, progress, and daily life. The different murals if you've had an opportunity to drive around the city and see them in their own respective districts and high park in district one, we have the pursuit of citizenship. We have in district three the pursuit of education highlighted that Valencia Park showing the integration of Richland County schools in district four, the story of the pursuit of justice, edified with a portrait of Sarah Mae Fleming and her experience just here on the other side of this building serving as a forerunner for Rosa Parks back in the 1950s. Here today we have a chance to lift up our gifted child as a Charles. I've had a chance to talk to her parents and grandparents and aunties and uncles and everybody else here today. Good clap Grandma, good clap. And I keep referencing how just Marvel, I remember the first time I saw her work and I was amazed and it was a fairly sizable piece of work done in record time that just amazed me at the gift this young woman had. And as we watched her art go up and be highlighted and celebrated not just here regionally but nationally, being seen internationally, there was no doubt as to who we would call on to cover this piece of art that recognizes the, I believe in many respects, the American dream. The American dream for so many of us as we try as many try to divide us so often. I tell people that the reality is that everyone in this country just wants a fair shot. Just want an opportunity. Want an opportunity to work hard, to be paid a fair wage and if you're downright hardworking and entrepreneurial to be successful. The African American business community just to the west of here particularly but all throughout the city that existed pre integration was an amazing place that I do know that Dr. Donaldson is going to touch on at a much deeper level. But when we were talking about Asia potentially doing this, of course I've had enough conversations with her to know that she's going to say, yeah, she's going to be ready to do it. But being able to see the speed in which she was able to conceptualize and then deliver working well into the night. I couldn't do this on a 12 by 8 piece of paper let alone this massive canvas that many of us thought would be covered by several artists not by one. She's an amazing gift and I want to thank her parents and grandparents and family for sharing her with us. This is an exciting day, something we've been looking forward to because now say this as I take my seat and yield the microphone to the representative of district two Reverend Ed McDowell. So often public art statues are used as ways to divide people and we have been very vocal about about these symbols and each and every one of these symbols should be opportunities to tell a story to tell our common story and pull people together to unify people by telling a story that's edifying and this council unanimously determined that we would tell that story the important contribution of African Americans all across the city but would tell it in a way that was edifying and brought all people together. We have people in the city in the city who hail from every one of the 194 sovereign nations of the world living right here in the city. The story of the of the African scene the American Sun is central to who we are and being able to tell it in this beautiful fashion is something we are uniquely proud of today. So thank you all of you for not thinking at robbery to be here with us today. I should thank you so much for being for being you. We're going to continue to lift you up in prayer and we know that this you haven't even begun to scratch the surface of what God's going to take you. Thank you so much. Red McDowell. Good afternoon. I think it is appropriate for us to say and I don't have much to say. The senator wants me to be short and of course I will abide by his wishes. There's only one word that I can say that sort of sums up this mural amazing. It is the amazing task of this this artist. Ms. Charles you've done us and made us proud of not only our past but our present. My wife reminded me this morning that a piece of your artwork is in our home. So every day I pass I did I admire the picture. I never did look at the bottom to see the name. She reminded me this morning that we have one of her paintings in our home spectacular. Now I must admit that as I pass this place and stop as she completed this mural I say my goodness this represents and symbolizes the past but it also gives us a real pathway to our future. Ms. Charles thank you very much for allowing us to sense and to feel the presence of the past and yet the ongoing pathway to the future. Wow the next project of course well I think what I'd like to do is dedicate some place on my house. Azure thank you very much for your talent your creativity and I must say this as I take my seat as I strove through the parking lot several times I've seen splashes of paint on the bottom and of course I simply said oh my goodness someone has thrown paint on this mural. I immediately called the city manager and I said Mr. Mayor someone has defamed, defaced our mural. Henry rushed out there to look and he simply says Ed wait you can tell how much artistic abilities I have. Henry said to me Ed that's Azure's trademark so Azure thank you for your trademark thank you for allowing us to remember our past and forge forth to the future thank you very much. Thank you thank you Councilman McDowell for your remarks there's always a challenge speaking after a preacher because no one really hears what you have to say when it's your turn so thank you so much Councilman McDowell of course my name is Henry Simons I'm the Assistant City Manager of Operations of course for the City of Columbia and I want to say a special thanks to our Mayor Mayor Steve Benjamin for his vision to see this project come to life. We are grateful to our entire Council for endorsing and supporting this public art initiative. Thank you so much to our city manager Mr. Teresa Wilson for her continued guidance and direction as well as we facilitated through this project. This project was facilitated and funded through the Parks and Recreation Foundation. We also partnered with Dr. Bobby Donaldson who is the Director of the Center for Civil Rights History and Research for the University of South Carolina and has worked as a professor for over 20 years and you will hear him in just a moment. He also serves as the lead scholar for Columbia SC 63. Our story matters which is a history initiative that chronicles the struggle for civil rights and social justice here in Columbia. So we have aligned this project with some amazing work that's already been done through Columbia SC 63. We also partnered with Lee Snell Grove who is the Executive Director of One Columbia for Arts and Culture and Lee is also a member of the Parks and Recreation Foundation which is helping us facilitate this project in that capacity. One Columbia is actually the gatekeeper to help facilitate arts and culture throughout the city of Columbia so we take pride in the work that has been accomplished with this initiative. I definitely want to recognize Parks and Rec Foundation Mr. Fred Monk who is not here with us today. We also have some other members of the Parks and Recreation Foundation board Mr. Jennifer Clyburn Reed that's with us today. Thank you so much for your support also Mr. Damon Jeter who is also a Parks and Recreation Foundation board member. We also want to thank the Parks and Recreation Department for all their leadership and guidance throughout this process. So thank you all so much for this opportunity. Now at this time please help me welcome Dr. Bobby Donaldson to the podium. Good afternoon everyone. Columbia SC 63 is very honored and very pleased to join this important initiative this afternoon. In the mid-1950s a white photographer named Eugene Sloane stood near the corner of Maine and Washington. He snapped the photograph of the 1119 Washington Street building. The negative of that photograph was placed in a box in an archive and it remained there for decades largely unknown and largely unseen. What Mr. Sloane did not realize was that in 1955 he was setting the stage for 2021. As this initiative emerged we started looking in our archives for images that would chronicle the lives and experiences of African Americans in the city of Columbia. And in that one photograph it served as a reminder of the extraordinary men and women who helped to build and to support the 1100, the 1000 and the 900 blocks of Washington Street often known as the Black Downtown. So in the height of segregation a family from Waverly or a family from Wheeler Hill or Ward 1 or Arsenal Hill or Greenview or Harbison would come to town. They might start at the 900 block, a building still standing. They could go inside, they could see and patronize an African American bank, the Victory Savings Bank. They walk a few blocks further. They could stop at the Blue Palace Tea Shop or the Dew Drop Inn or the Phoenix Cafe or Count's Drug Store. They could come a few blocks over to the Greenleaf Cafe or they could stop at the 1119 building. They could go upstairs, they could visit the office of someone who looked like them, a chief defender and champion of civil rights, the lawyer on the top, lawyer Harold Boulware. Or they could come downstairs and go through the front doors of the Lilywood Barbershop or they could visit the Masonic Temple or they could stop by 1107 Washington Street. They could go upstairs to a hair salon called Elisa's Beauty Park. In so many ways this mural helps to chronicle a missing, a deleted, a demolished chapter in our history. So it was an extraordinary moment for me to have a 24-year-old artist have a conversation with a woman who owned and operated Elisa's Beauty Parlor that she opened in 1938. Today Elise Jones Martin is 106 years old and she walked Ms. Charles through the history of these men and women that she knew personally. So now when we walk down Main Street in the Columbia SC 63 walking tour very often we would point to what was on Washington Street. Now we stand in this plaza flanked by the words hope and we show them what is, what has been recorded, what has been documented, what has been preserved in continuing these stories. Very often when we dedicate historical markers and wayside signs I'm drawn to the history lesson in the Old Testament that history lesson that says write the vision and make it plain on tablets. Well today we modify that slightly paint the vision on the wall. Why do you do it so that those who walk by may be educated, may be edified, they may be inspired to run on to see where their ends will be. That scripture says sometimes you'll have to wait for that change to happen but keep on waiting for the change will surely come. Ms. Charles thank you for making that change come today. Well the bar has been set and I am not going to meet that bar. It's always impossible to follow Dr. Donaldson when you have to speak. I am Lisa Elgar and the director of One Columbia for Arts and Culture. My organization has been supported by the city since 2012 and one of the projects we have taken on as an organization is commissioning works of public art on behalf of the city of Columbia and I think this is one of many representations of the support that the city has given us in fulfilling that mission and bringing public art to be more prominent in our city. I have looked at this wall a long time standing in line getting coffee next door. I've walked this because our office is just down the street and it is so satisfying to see that it is finally painted with something so great that will continue to captivate many people and many visitors as they come to the city. I hope the city can you know I expect that the city will continue to support more public art projects. Public art really enhances our city aesthetically. It demonstrates the creative people that live and work here and demonstrates that to the people that are already here our residents but also the people that will come and visit us and it really showcases what is important to us as a city and our culture as a city and I think this one in particular really represents who we are as a city tells our story of Colombians of people who are entrepreneurs people who are building things and making things and doing things and being part of a community this mural represents that so I want to I want to thank everyone that public art is a process it involves a tremendous number of people to accomplish it it does not come the artist does all the work but before that so much work is done to set the stage for that artist to be able to represent themselves and what they're trying to tell the story of so I want to thank the mayor and council obviously for their support and their encouragement and their development of this initiative Dr. Donaldson for all his advice and finding the right images and telling the stories that we wanted to tell Mr. Simons for ushering everything through and Ebony Calady and Todd Martin who have been the staff members that have really worked to coordinate artists and resources making sure there was a lift on site when necessary and things like that and certainly especially Aija herself the artist who when I called her and talked to her about being selected for this project I said you know will you have assistance and she said no I'm doing it myself and I said are you are you sure and and she did it she did every bit of this mural herself and is a spectacular artist that we hope to see represent Colombia for many years so I'll welcome Aija up so she can say a few words herself it's very I just want to say thank you all for coming out it has truly been an honor and a blessing to even been given the opportunity to do something like this I've always been taught in my life that sky's the limit to what you can do there should be no limits to what you can achieve in this world and to be able to put together such an amazing project with one columbia in the city and bring something that was historically here back to our city it just has been an honor and a privilege and I just want to thank you all again for the opportunity for doing this when I first got this I don't think Lee knew but my proposal was actually doing my birthday so I knew it was predestined for me to do this project and I know they were freaking out when I said that I wanted to do this on my own but I knew I could I'm known as a fast artist and for this to be something that used to be buried in history bringing history back to life I just wanted us as a residence and the spirit of all those that existed during that time to be all brought back into one and as you see it's come out perfect and I just thank you all again I thank the city for giving me the opportunity I thank one columbia for putting it together for me and I thank Steve to Benjamin for reaching out to me so far in advance months in advance let me know that this is coming and I'm looking forward to continue to paint the town bringing positive vibes on the canvas of our lives I thought you all had forgotten about me picked up my September 2 Sunday state newspaper all the news that fit to print it's like New York Times and I read this article that's not who is this who did all this and I kept on reading and I found out who did it so I went down the mouse house and did a little something something far and today we are honoring her and it reminds me of a piece of scripture says that we do not care for ourselves as we should and that a person is not without honor except in his own country among his own kin and in his own house today we are honoring Ms. Charles because she did a good job in capturing the history of us here in South Carolina so I would like to present and now somebody took it from me ask Ms. Charles to come over here. Senator Patterson no one can ever forget you my friend and we're thankful for what you meant to so many of us for so so long I did neglect to mention one thing earlier some of you may know that the city recently purchased this building so this is a city owned building and so often I think we neglect to to fully appreciate the importance of the public realm the place where people come together and join together and share together this is that space and again we hope and pray that I just work here but but all the work being done throughout the city continues to bring us together as one Columbia as one great city thank y'all God bless you and keep you in Asia we're we're waiting to see more of my sister all right thank you