Johnson C. Smith University

Johnson C. Smith University (JCSU) will create a public art program that will use art, sound, and visuals to chronicle the past and present day narratives of historic African American spaces in Biddleville and the Beatties Ford Road Corridor in Charlotte, North Carolina—home to JSCU. The project team will create four interactive, outdoor mobile "pop-up units" incorporating original soundtracks using oral histories to capture the past and present sounds of Biddleville by infusing gospel, jazz, hip-hop, and other pieces to appeal to a multi-generational audience. Project activities will also include tours and a discussion series to share the history of Biddleville and to generate dialogues about urban renewal. Materials collected for this project will become part of the JCSU digital archives, and the project may serve as a replicable model for other communities impacted by urban renewal and gentrification.