In a former elementary school for Black children, two unarmed soldiers stand guard over an exhibit that pays homage to their contributions to history.
The soldiers are keeping watch over the event hall in the Chattanooga Civic Center Mountainside, a Hooker Road facility that once served as Piney Woods Elementary School. A 2016 article on Chattanoogan.com notes the building’s beginnings in 1963 as a school “for colored? children only” and chronicles its transition to a civic center intended to serve people “of all colors.”
The origins of the two soldiers preceded the construction of Piney Woods by a century. Dressed in simple clothes (one wears denim slacks secured with a gold-colored belt buckle, a burlap shirt with buttons up the middle and what could pass as a White? Beaver Slouch Hat – a popular men’s hat during the Civil War), the two soldiers stand ramrod straight as they flank either side of a sign that reads “Gateway to Freedom.”
Although their chests are crisscrossed with the shoulder straps of a satchel and a canteen, their most distinctive feature are their faces, which consist of black? fabric stretched over a mannequin’s head. The lack of eyes and other features allow the soldiers to represent not just two fictitious Black? fighters but the thousands of former slaves?, as well as free Black men and women, who played a vital role in the Union’s victory over the Confederacy.
“Gateway to Freedom” is the passion project of John Edwards, founder of publisher of the Chattanooga News Chronicle, former president of the Mary Walker Historical & Educational Foundation and unofficial custodian of local? Black? history.
Edwards developed the exhibit in an effort to educate the public about the unheralded contributions of Black people to the war effort.
The first of several placards arranged into multisided stands provides a primer on the Civil War – which calls the conflict “the greatest calamity the citizens of the United States had ever faced” – and features a poster that includes an all-caps and bold-faced call to arms: “MEN OF COLOR! To arms! To arms! NOW OR NEVER!”
Beneath photos of three Black Union? soldiers, letters burned into the slats of a wooden fence tell more of the story.
“When the 13th Amendment finally abolished slavery, African Americans were calmed and prepared. For when the first gun roared, they had scented freedom in the air, and by the time Gen. Lee’s men had stacked the last musket at Appomattox, African Americans had given fully. Their imagination, courage and determination had pointed the way to emancipation and the gateway to freedom.”
Each ensuing placard tells a different part of the Black? story of the Civil War. From photos of 16 Medal of Honor recipients from Black regiments, to a display recognizing the contributions of Black women such as Susan Taylor and Elizabeth Keckley?, to a panel of political cartoons that show the disregard even Northerners had for the military potential of Black? soldiers, “Gateway to Freedom” offers an informative and unflinching look at both the stirring and the shameful.
A stop at the Chattanooga placard offers only inspiration. Here, visitors can learn about Hubbard Pryor, a slave? who escaped a Georgia plantation and made his way to Chattanooga, where he was one of the first African Americans to enlist in the 44th U.S. Colored? Infantry. They can also view a photo of the graves of Black? soldiers at the Chattanooga National Cemetery.
While creating the exhibit, Edwards wove in several artistic and authentic props. From a bale of cotton placed below photos of Black slaves? working in the fields of the plantations that enslaved them to a pair of vintage muskets placed in a glass case between the two soldiers, the props set the stage for the stories the photos and interpretive text tell.
“Gateway to Freedom” is on display through the end of February. Individuals and groups can schedule a visit by calling 423 267-2313 or 423 331-8878. The Chattanooga Civic Center Mountainside is located at 701 Hooker Road.