City staff and residents gather along Nelson Hackett Boulevard to celebrate the completion of a new mural on Monday, June 17 in Fayetteville. (Flyer photo/Todd Gill)FAYETTEVILLE — City officials and residents gathered Monday to celebrate the completion of a new mural along Nelson Hackett Boulevard.
After a reception at the nearby Yvonne Richardson Community Center, which included remarks from Mayor Lioneld Jordan, artist Joëlle Storet and others, those in attendance took a short walk to view the mural up close.
The “Remembrance” mural, as it was named by Storet, covers a 90-foot section of the retaining wall on the west side of the street. It features depictions of several prominent Black Fayetteville residents, including Nelson Hackett, an enslaved man who fled the city in 1841 in search of freedom.
Hackett made it to Canada, but after Arkansas Gov. Archibald Yell formally requested that Hackett be returned to Fayetteville, he was publicly whipped, tortured and sold back into slavery.
The city in 2022 renamed the street from Archibald Yell Boulevard to Nelson Hackett Boulevard, and later offered a $24,000 commission for the mural.
During Monday’s reception, Jordan said the mural is more than just a piece of art.
“It is a testament to our city’s commitment to fostering a vibrant and inclusive community,” he said. “This art shows us our shared past and the bright future we are building together.”
Some of the other people included in Storet’s design include Dorothy Barnes Barker-Wilks, Ulon Fae Barnes, Lafayette Barker and Teresa Gray.
Artist Joëlle Storet speaks about her new mural during a reception held Monday, June 17 at the Yvonne Richardson Community Center in Fayetteville. (Flyer photo/Todd Gill)Jordan thanked Barker-Wilks’ granddaughter Jessica Gray, who was in attendance Monday, for sharing personal photos of her family to help Storet with the design of the mural.
Also in attendance was J Aleczander, a relative of several of the people featured in the mural, some whom he said lived just down the street from the Richardson center where Monday’s reception was held.
Aleczander said the city’s commissioning of the mural on a popular thoroughfare like Nelson Hackett Boulevard is an important step in helping to create a more inclusive community.
“As Fayetteville is growing through the population boom, we’ve got to be most vigilant at making sure our residents continue to have those opportunities to live here as ordinary individuals,” Aleczander said.
Fayetteville Mayor Lioneld Jordan, speaks during a reception held Monday, June 17 at the Yvonne Richardson Community Center in Fayetteville. (Flyer photo/Todd Gill)The proposal for the mural was brought forward by the city’s Black Heritage Preservation Commission, a group tasked in part with investigating important struggles and achievements of local Black residents and making recommendations on how to honor those individuals.
Hackett’s attempted escape from slavery set off an international dispute that eventually helped ensure Canada would remain a safe haven for people who were fleeing enslavement in the United States. His journey is documented by the Nelson Hackett Project, an effort by the University of Arkansas’s Department of History to bring more attention to the story.
The British government eventually passed laws that made similar extraditions much more difficult in an effort to prevent setting a precedent that encouraged slave owners to make accusations of offenses in order to reclaim enslaved people.
A sign points toward a reception to celebrate a nearby mural on Monday, June 17 at the Yvonne Richardson Community Center in Fayetteville. (Flyer photo/Todd Gill)
Joanna Bell, the city’s arts and culture director, speaks during a reception held Monday, June 17 at the Yvonne Richardson Community Center in Fayetteville. (Flyer photo/Todd Gill)
J Aleczander, a relative of several of the people featured in a new mural on Nelson Hackett Boulevard, speaks during a reception held Monday, June 17 at the Yvonne Richardson Community Center in Fayetteville. (Flyer photo/Todd Gill)
City staff and residents gather for a reception held Monday, June 17 at the Yvonne Richardson Community Center in Fayetteville. (Flyer photo/Todd Gill)
City staff and residents walk across Nelson Hackett Boulevard to view a new mural during a celebration event held Monday, June 17 in Fayetteville. (Flyer photo/Todd Gill)
J Aleczander and Joëlle Storet speak next to Storet’s new mural along Nelson Hackett Boulevard on Monday, June 17 in Fayetteville. (Flyer photo/Todd Gill)
J Aleczander describes some of his relatives featured in a new mural along Nelson Hackett Boulevard on Monday, June 17 in Fayetteville. (Flyer photo/Todd Gill)
A person pauses to view a new mural along Nelson Hackett Boulevard on Monday, June 17 in Fayetteville. (Flyer photo/Todd Gill)
Two people stop to view a new mural along Nelson Hackett Boulevard on Monday, June 17 in Fayetteville. (Flyer photo/Todd Gill)
