LAKE WALES, Fla. — Sankofa is an African Proverb that encourages people to explore their past for a clear vision of their future — and that’s exactly what Lake Wales community leaders plan to do.
“We’re in a position where we are going to be bringing culture, arts, and music back here, so to be able to start all this with a mural is a really cool thing,” said mural artist, E.J. Nieves.
Nieves was commissioned to create a Lion of Judah Mural in the middle of an under served community. The project was slightly delayed due to rainy weather but Nieves and artist Andres’ are nearly done with the $10,000 project.
“I get emotional because this means a lot to me; I was homeless just last year,” explained Nieves. “So, I give all the glory to God.”
Nieves is one of the many Lake Wales residents who have invested their time and efforts into beautifying the northwest community off Lincoln and C street.
“This is a meaningful project because I couldn’t do this in my own East Tampa neighborhood,” said Lake Wales CRA Darrell Starling. “The lion that the artist is painting has significant meaning; there will also be about 18 names that frame the mural; each name represents a person who was responsible for the old black district here.”
Starling invited historian Dorothy Wilson to the mural event to talk more about Florida history and how Lake Wales is deep rooted in it.
“When segregation hit, everything went raw,” explained Wilson. “This whole area used to be full of working black people who really kept this area up; it‘s much different now.”
Wilson told Spectrum Bay News 9 that the community the mural is being placed in, looked a lot different in the early 1900’s. However, you won’t read about this district in the history books.
“That wasn’t something they would write about and printing was very expensive,” explained Wilson.
Wilson traced back to the 1930’s when African American’s used something called a Green Book to safely navigate through their city and others.
“It’s set up by states, let’s go to Florida,” said Wilson, as she flipped through the Green Book pages. “You have hotels and tourist homes [in the book] and if you don’t see this on there you don’t go there.”
The tone then was much different than the new one that city leaders are trying to rebuild in the Northwest Lake Wales community. The artist tell me that people from the neighborhood and people who happened to be driving by stopped to help them complete the painting.
This act and many others speak to the unity that Lake Wales is working to achieve.