Lifting the Windom Barrier
Restoring Unity at the Divide
Moving Forward Together
Lifting the Windom Barrier
Restoring Unity at the Divide
Moving Forward Together
A Divided Past
A corrugated metal crash barrier was installed to prominently delineate the municipal boundary between Brentwood, a sundown town, and North Brentwood, the county’s first incorporated African American town. Here is the history of the Windom Road Barrier.
The Art Installation: Moving Forward Together
Restoring unity at the Windom Divide is about acknowledging the past to move forward together. Meet the local organizers and artists behind this effort.
The Neighborhood Design Center and the towns of North Brentwood and Brentwood in Prince George’s County, Maryland, are working together to remove and turn a segregation-era barrier between the two towns into a memorial sculpture and park. The design features a sculpture of two hands lifting the barrier in the air so that the two towns walk freely beneath it.
About the Artists
Wesley Clark received his Bachelor of Fine Arts in painting from Syracuse University and a Master of Fine Arts from The George Washington University. Clark is a conceptual artist creating narrative-driven two- and three-dimensional works. His primary concerns are bolstering the spirit of African Americans, creating new angles at which to view and consider history and the contemporary moment.
The Windom Road Barrier project because I am of the community and was unaware of the history. This project allows me the opportunity to both engage the community’s history and be a part of changing the future of the community.
Nehemiah Dixon, III is the Senior Director of Programs and Community Engagement at The Phillips Collection, America’s first modern art museum located in Washington, DC. In this role he is responsible for the oversite and strategy of a robust and innovative community engagement plan, through the development and delivery of public programs, exhibitions, and commissions at both the Museum and The Phillips Collection’s satellite location (the Town Hall Education Arts Recreation Campus also known as THEARC), and the coordination of community engagement activities across DC by partnering with organizations such as the DC Public Library, The Nicholson Project, TASSC International. Washington Sculptors Group, and other local arts organizations and artists. Nehemiah collaborates deeply with his colleagues in curatorial, digital, and design staff to implement exhibitions, public programs, symposia, and workshops at the museum, online, and at the museum’s satellite location in Washington DC’s eighth ward. He oversees the Head of Public Programs, the Head of Experiential Learning, and the Manager of Community Projects.
Nehemiah has previously served as the CEO/ President of Nonstop Art where he developed a maker space for the residents of Ward 8 and as an instructor at the Corcoran School of Art at George Washington University. His previous experience in the DC arts community includes positions as Managing Director at Art Works Now, Gateway CDC board member, Visual Arts Coordinator at Joe’s Movement Emporium, and many years ago as a Museum Assistant at The Phillips Collection. Nehemiah received a Bachelor of Fine Art from the Maryland Institute College of Art.