Semifinalists to present design concepts for Ed Johnson Memorial

Three semifinalist teams chosen last year to create design concepts for the Ed Johnson Memorial will present their work to the public this week.

The permanent memorial at the south end of the Walnut Street Bridge will commemorate the life of Johnson and recognize the resulting United States Supreme Court case, according to a news release from the Ed Johnson Project.

Johnson, a black man, was hanged on the Walnut Street Bridge more than a century ago after he was falsely accused of rape. His trial changed the course of civil rights laws in the country.

The designs honoring Johnson will be unveiled at 5:30 p.m. Thursday at the Bessie Smith Cultural Center. The public is invited to talk to the teams and to submit written comments and feedback to be compiled and given to the selection committee, which will choose a final design.

The semifinalists were chosen from 45 submissions, with artist teams from three continents and more than a dozen states.

The three semifinalist teams are:

› Rodney Leon, of Rodney Leon Architects; artist Ai Qiu Hopen: and Elizabeth Kennedy, of Elizabeth Kennedy Landscape Architect;

› NBW Landscape Architects and Lord Cultural Resources;

› Jerome Meadows, of Meadowlark Studio; Mike Fowler and Aaron Shugart-Brown of Ross/Fowler Landscape Architecture; artists Jan Chenoweth and Roger Halligan; Charlie Anderson, of Full Circle Stoneworks; and LesLee Ames, community and team coordinator.

Their previous work includes the Flight 93 National Memorial in Pennsylvania; the African Burial Ground Memorial in New York; the Gate of Freedom in Birmingham; and the African Burying Ground and Memorial Park in New Hampshire.

The teams visited Chattanooga last fall after they were selected and have spent the last three months working on their concepts, according to the release.