JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – A Jacksonville park made to honor the lives of two Jacksonville natives opened Thursday after 11 years of work.
Lift Ev’ry Voice and Sing Park, named after the famous hymn made by James Weldon Johnson and his brother John Rosamond, hosted its ribbon cutting in LaVilla Thursday morning.
The park was built where the brothers grew up and wrote their world-famous hymn.
With help from the Jessie Ball duPont Fund and after delays due to COVID-19, the finishing touches were put together this week.
“I cannot even put into words how excited we are. This has been such a collaborative effort between the neighborhood and LaVilla specifically and then the city of Jacksonville Parks department Jessie Ball DuPont fun as well as a whole donors,” Laura Phillips Edgecombe, with the Jessie Ball DuPont Fund Principal of Downtown Public Spaces, said.
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The song “Lift Ev’ry Voice and Sing” is considered the “Black National Anthem.”
“The song is significant. It is part of the Negro national anthem and we sing it as much as we can and that anthem started here in Jacksonville,” Verona Mitchell, with the Durkeeville Historical Society said.
Those who helped put the opening event together said this much more than a park.
“This is really going to be a game changer,” said Thony Hill, a community organizer. “Coming up with a concept to develop this park has been one that will turn Jacksonville upside down and really put them on the map.”
The park was originally dedicated by the City of Jacksonville in collaboration with the Durkeeville Historical Society in 2013.
“There are so many incredibly nationally significant people that came out of Jacksonville and we don’t really have a place to remember that. So I hope that the park is just the beginning,” said Mari Kuraishi, Jessie Ball DuPont Fund President.
The park at the corner of Adams and Lee Street hosts a sound stage, elevated grass seating and areas to sit and learn about the brothers and their famous hymn.
“Public spaces are for everyone and so the idea behind the creation of this park is that anyone and everyone will come and have an experience of their own a positive experience of their own so what I’m hoping that people get out of the park is whatever they need and whatever they want,” Phillips Edgecombe said.
Thursday’s ceremony included the unveiling of “Calling It Done,” an original sculpture of the Johnson brothers by award-winning, Florida-based “contemporary realist” Brian R. Owens.
“Calling It Done” was created in bronze and concrete as “a meditation on the bond of brotherhood, the vitality of youth, and the peculiar satisfaction of lyrical and musical creation.”
The city said the park also represents a part of the revitalization of LaVilla alongside the LaVilla Heritage Trail and the Emerald Trail’s LaVilla Link, creating a destination in LaVilla for all of Jacksonville to enjoy.
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“I’m just happy that this project has come to fruition and that we’re finally realizing our dream,” Mitchell said.
Mayor Donna Deegan said the park will host its major event, a community music festival, on Sept. 14.