Glass wall of remembrance illuminates Parramore’s past
In March 1964, Martin Luther King, Jr. visited Orlando for a Southern Christian Leadership Conference meeting at Shiloh Baptist Church. That evening, he spoke at Tinker Field in an event organized by the Rev. Curtis Jackson of Shiloh, King’s former Morehouse College classmate.
A couple photos from the day survived, and King’s sole visit to Orlando now shines as part of a wall of history that illuminates the past of the traditionally Black, west Orlando area now called Parramore, after one of its main business arteries (named for an early Orlando mayor).
Unveiled in fall 2020, the colorful art-glass wall is part of the new downtown campus shared by the University of Central Florida and Valencia College. Comprising six panels, it’s the work of New Orleans artist Nancy Gutkin O’Neil, who was chosen from more than 200 applicants. The project was produced by a partnership of UCF and Valencia leaders and Parramore residents and business owners.
‘Of History and Hope’
O’Neil named her creation “If we can truly remember, they will not forget,” a line from a work by American poet Miller Williams titled “Of History and Hope.”
To design the glass panels, she combined layers of color, poetry, natural imagery, and historic photos over a background of listings from the 1960 directory of Orlando’s Negro Chamber of Commerce.
O’Neil toured the Parramore area, interviewing community members and poring over newspaper, business and government records. The hundreds of business names shown in the background of the multicolored glass alone attest to the vibrant Black business community that once filled the streets surrounding the campus.
O’Neil’s art reveals both the texture of everyday life in Parramore and standout moments such as King’s visit or the 1972 victory of Arthur “Pappy” Kennedy, Orlando’s first Black elected official. In a news photo included, a smiling Kennedy holds the court order declaring him the winner of a seat on the City Council.
Survivor on the Trail
Other images depict the John H. Jackson Recreation Center, previously the Colored Servicemen’s Club and later the site of the only community swimming pool for Black youth during the Jim Crow era.
In 1951, Goff ’s was bombed by the Ku Klux Klan because the white owners did not make Black patrons stand in a separate line but instead served all customers from the same window. (Still open at 212 S. Orange Blossom Trail, Goff ’s is one of Orlando’s longest-running businesses.)
Another neighborhood landmark, the Carver theater, opened in October 1949 and was the last Orlando movie theater built for a Black audience. The building closed as a theater during the 1960s and was torn down in 2005.
Along with images and maps, the art-glass wall also features excerpts from “We come from Parramore,” a spoken-word poem created by young people from the Parramore Kidz Zone through UCF’s Center for Research and Education in Arts, Technology and Entertainment. “I come from a place called the bottom,” reads one phrase, “so I have no other destination but the top.”
O’Neil’s six panels are installed on an interior glass wall of the Parramore Room, at the northwest corner of Dr. Phillips Academic Commons at West Livingston Street and Terry Avenue. The multicolored glass is designed to be seen from outside the building, especially when illuminated by lights at night. The room was designed for community as well as university use.
“If we can truly remember” is intended to convey a sense of the layered community created by Parramore residents, especially from 1920s through 1960s. “They created a complete world,” O’Neil says.