The Freedom Wall

The Niagara Frontier Transportation Authority (NFTA) and Albright-Knox Art Gallery collaborated to create the Freedom Wall. Part of the NFTA’s Cold Spring Bus Garage perimeter included a precast concrete wall, located at the corner of Michigan and Ferry Avenues. The 315’ wall needed reconstruction and repair and evolved into the Freedom Wall in 2017. Albright-Knox Art Gallery and NFTA commissioned the murals, painted by artists John Baker, Julia Bottoms, Chick Tingley, and Edreys Wajed. Located within the Michigan Street African American Heritage Corridor: a nexus of the city’s deeply rooted African American history. The gallery wall features portraits of 28 local and national civil rights leaders. Watts was hired to develop plans to improve the streetscape in front of the wall as well as a plan to illuminate the panels of these notable civil rights leaders from America’s past and present.

Site improvements included full architectural and engineering services, which entailed civil site plan development, soils/foundation engineering, utility design and coordination (storm sewer), architectural design (graphics and renderings / Models / Photography) and electrical lighting.

The color concrete visible in the photos was a specialized feature, representing the colors of the Pan-African Flag. The Pan-African flag is a representation of freedom for Black Americans. Red representing the noble blood that unites all people of African ancestry, the color black for the people, green for the rich land of Africa.

Our team is proud of our involvement for this public art tribute featuring African American Leaders who shaped civil rights and American History.

Learn more about each and every one of these African American luminaries, whose rich narratives are woven into the fabric of our nation's history.