Jonesboro, AR – (JonesboroRightNow.com) – Jan. 22, 2025 – Jonesboro residents gathered Tuesday night to hear about the future of the Martin Luther King Jr. Freedom Trail and give their thoughts on an art project to be installed along the way.
This route will feature green spaces and monuments inspired by King’s words and legacy, as well as recognize local civil rights leaders. The trail combines a roadway, protected bike lane, and sidewalks on both sides and will run from downtown, along Cate Avenue, and connect to the Marion Berry overpass that leads to A-State.
The Parks and Recreation Department and Arkansas State University’s Department of Art + Design hosted the discussion at New St. John Baptist Church in Jonesboro.
The first four monuments will be between South Church Street and the Craighead County-Jonesboro African American Cultural Center (AACC) Museum on South Patrick Street.
“That way you can leave the museum and walk up and then go to those spots. [Visitors] can go into the museum, walk the trail, play at the playground. Now it becomes a spot that all the schools not only in our area but others from Northeast Arkansas can come to Jonesboro for,” Director of Parks & Recreation Danny Kapales said.
To help answer the community’s questions, Kapales was joined by Arkansas State University Department of Art and Design Chair and Associate Professor of Art History, Dr. Katherine Baker; and Arkansas State University Dean of Liberal Arts and Communication and Professor of History, Dr. Cherisse Jones-Branch.
The A-State artists helping in the creation of the metallic monuments Arkansas State University Assistant Professor of Sculpture Andrew Fernandez and Arkansas State University Assistant Professor of Ceramics Zach Tate were also present.
During the meeting, the team discussed a variety of topics such as the three keywords that have been selected to use on the first monument, which will stand at the new park being constructed at the corner of South Church Street and Creath Avenue, across from the Jonesboro Municipal Building. These words are “Equality, Truth and Hope.”
This monument will be called the JBR monument, as JBR is the location identifier for the Jonesboro Municipal Airport. Kapales said that name was chosen to establish a “true connection” to Jonesboro.
“Now the students and folks that live along that way have a true pathway between the two [A-State and downtown Jonesboro] and a true connection that comes back,” Kapales said. “That’s something that’s been passionate with our connectivity committee and they’re putting together more of those that are going to go around town. It makes sense for this to be our first connected trail connecting ASU and the city as a whole, utilizing this along with what this trail truly means to so.”
Jonesboro resident Marilyn Newsome asked where the name Martin Luther King would be on these monuments, to which Kapales clarified that the whole trail, itself was the Martin Luther King Trail, which would tie-in all the way down the trail system.
“It’s going to try to tie into our museum. The other monuments are really going to have more detail and a lot more to say about Martin Luther King and our local leaders that have done so much for Jonesboro. We’ve got leaders here that need to have their books and their names and what they’ve done on that street as well so that when we take kids to the museum and they get to see that museum and what Roger [Roger McKinney, the general manager and curator of The Craighead County-Jonesboro African American Cultural Center] has done there, and what others in this community has done to make that museum what it is. They can actually go to each one of these monuments to be able to actually see the history of Jonesboro along in that way,” Kapales said.
Baker also noted that, while the first monument has a form or shape to it, the other three along the main trail are completely open for interpretation. Baker said this is how the quotes will be used, to help create the next three monuments along the trail.
The top three selected quotes from Martin Luther King, Jr. so far included:
- “Darkness cannot drive out darkness, only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate, only love can do that,” which is from Strength to Love, 1963.
- “Be a bush if you can’t be a tree. If you can’t be a highway, just be a trail. If you can’t be a sun, be a star. For it isn’t by size that you win or fail. Be the best of whatever you are,” which is from a speech at Barratt Junior High School in Philadelphia, Oct. 26, 1967.
- “The time is always right to do what is right,” which is from Oberlin College commencement speech, 1965.
According to Baker, these quotes came out of a community vote.
She also noted that the quotes were not yet finalized, and suggestions will be reopened for submission. To view the selected and a vote on your favorite three so far, visit Creath Street Monuments – Quotes. Alternatively, you can scan the QR codes below.
“Let us know the stories you want to be told. That is absolutely critical in all of this,” Jones-Branch said. “We want you to contribute to this. Yes, it honors the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, but then it also tells the stories of the activism that occurred here in Jonesboro, AR, so that it lives in a museum, but it also lives outside of the museum in a public space. So, it is absolutely critical for the community to engage this so that it respects what you want it to be.”
Other things mentioned as ideas for the future included making the monuments multisensory and creating an app for visitors.
“Potentially there could be some way that people could hear some of the stories that are being represented or reflected in the sculpture while they’re standing there,” Baker said. “So, it’s like a multi-sensory thing where someone is really getting like pulled into it.”
This conversation led to an idea from Donna L. Shelton, local researcher and historian who will be assisting with oral histories for the project, about creating an app to follow the trail, to which Kapales noted that he could see them doing something like a history of Jonesboro app to allow visitors to follow a tour.
New St. John Missionary Baptist Church Pastor Rev. Zay Clark suggested a QR code to help people submit ideas, as the code could be placed in church bulletins, allowing congregants to scan it.
Jonesboro resident Shamal Carter, who is the regional lead representative at the Crowley’s Ridge Development Council, noted that many of the older generation did not have social media and inquired about other ways to get the message out about the meeting and what is happening with the project.
“I’m hoping that if [submissions are] still open, there’s some way that we in the community can announce it, maybe the church on Sunday to kind of see if that’s something that someone wants to bring a quote,” he said. “But also, people who were instrumental in our community, who were activists in regard to civil rights and so on and so forth, they can kind of submit those names. When we do meet again, we can kind of talk about that.”