Commissioned by the Metro Nashville Arts Commission, Witness Walls stands as a bold and enduring tribute to Nashville’s role in the Civil Rights Movement. Designed by Oakland-based artist Walter Hood, the installation memorializes the April 1960 protest in which 3,000 college students marched through downtown Nashville to condemn an attempted firebombing of a civil rights attorney’s home. The peaceful demonstration culminated at the city courthouse, where students asked the mayor whether lunch counters should be desegregated. His response—yes—became a defining moment in the national movement for equality.

As Nashville’s first public art installation dedicated to civil rights, Witness Walls merges poetic expression with precise craftsmanship. Hood envisioned a series of fragmented sculptural walls inspired by classical friezes—heroic, narrative, and immersive. That vision was realized through twelve precast concrete panels arranged into four gently curving walls, creating approximately 48 sq ft of sculptural surface that transforms concrete into a medium for storytelling.