Ed Johnson Memorial
The Ed Johnson Committee issued a request for proposals to develop the Ed Johnson Memorial in downtown Chattanooga, TN. The Ed Johnson Memorial is a permanent public site that strives to promote racial healing and reconciliation by acknowledging the lynching of Ed Johnson, honoring the courageous work of his attorneys, and recognizing the resulting U.S. Supreme Court case that established federal oversight of state-level civil rights issues. The memorial was envisioned as a welcoming, contemplative space adjacent to the Walnut Street Bridge—the site of the Ed Johnson lynching—where people of all backgrounds and cultures could come to learn, reflect, mourn and find inspiration.
The collaboration of sculptor Jerome Meadows and Ross/Fowler Landscape Architects was selected as the winning design team for the project, which consisted of 45 design teams from three continents and more than a dozen states. The project will create a sacred space by using the surrounding elements of benches, storytelling walls, plantings, and four new trees to create a sense of separation from the adjacent plaza. Three life size, bronze figures representing Ed Johnson and the two attorneys – Noah Parden and Styles Hutchens are to be located within the center area of the Memorial. The surrounding landscape of the memorial is composed of select native and adaptive plant species that symbolize renewal, justice, energy of the spirit, and rebirth and new life.
