CLARKSVILLE, TN (CLARKSVILLE NOW) – The Clarksville Arts & Heritage Council recently unveiled plans for a civil rights monument near the L&N Depot in Dixon Park. The monument honors civil rights leaders who fought for racial equality, and the AHC hopes it will inspire a new generation of leaders.

The structure will have seven plaques, each depicting a local civil rights leader. The list has yet to be finalized, but the current honorees include Command Sgt. Maj. Sydney R. Brown, Dr. Robert T. Burt, Mrs. Emma Burt, Virginia Martin Hatcher, the Rev. Dr. Jerry G. Jerkins, Dr. Helen Long and Pastor Jimmy Terry Sr.

The AHC chose artist Roy Butler to build the monument due to his experience building other monuments in Clarksville, such as the US Colored Troops Monument at the Fort Defiance Civil War Park & Interpretive Center.

Butler proposed a gray, seven-sided granite column that is 8 feet tall and 7 feet wide. Full statues of the nominees were cost-prohibitive, so the council decided to use bas-relief plaques to make the honorees recognizable. A bas-relief design contains figures that are carved so they barely protrude from a flat surface, providing a three-dimensional effect. The concrete for the statue was donated by State Rep. Jeff Burkhart, who is running for re-election to House District 75 this fall.

History behind monument

The monument was proposed in 2021 by former City Councilman Richard Garrett, after the death of George Floyd and resulting protests. At first, he proposed a mural, but City Mayor Joe Pitts proposed a 3D sculpture, which inspired the bas-relief design.

The executive director of the Arts & Heritage Council, Dr. Ellen Kanervo, said, “The purpose is to let young people know what African Americans have contributed to civic life, and how they’ve improved civil rights for all in Clarksville.” Kanervo is hopeful that the monument will be completed within a year.

Initially, Olympic hero Wilma Rudolph was among the honorees. But during an Oct. 3 Montgomery County Commission meeting, District 5 Commissioner Rashidah Leverett said, “We have Wilma Rudolph Boulevard and Wilma Rudolph Event Center. We also have a plaque for her near Walgreens, and she’s buried here. We have additional representatives that have been overlooked.”

Commissioners Leverett and John Gannon led the vote to send the proposal back to committee, where the resolution was amended to replace Rudolph with Brown.

The initial list also included the two living civil rights leaders, Jimmie Garland and Hyburnia Williams. The County Commission decided to replace these nominees with Terry and Jerkins, both deceased. After the Arts & Heritage Council finalizes this list, they can receive funding and start construction.

About the honorees

Command Sgt. Maj. Sidney R. Brown, who died in 2020, was one of the first African American paratroopers and was deployed with the 101st Airborne Division to aid desegregation at Little Rock, Arkansas. He served two tours each in Germany, Korea and Vietnam for a total of 30 years of service. After returning, he graduated from Austin Peay State University, served on the Montgomery County Commission, advocated for the nursing home for veterans, and led several local organizations until his death in 2020. In 2019, the city honored Brown by renaming Birchwood Park to CSM Sidney R. Brown Park at Birchwood.

Dr. Robert T. Burt set up his medical practice in Clarksville in 1904. He relocated to Clarksville to set up a medical practice on Third Street, according to previous reports. In the beginning of his career, he only served Black patients, but in time he opened his practice to patients of all races. In 1906, Burt opened Clarksville’s first hospital, The Home Infirmary, near what is now Riverside Drive. Burt operated his hospital until Clarksville Memorial Hospital opened in 1954, just one year before he died in 1955. Clarksville honors Burt’s memory in the names of the old Burt High School, now Burt Innovation Center, and the city’s Burt-Cobb Recreation Center, as well as in an exhibit at the Customs House Museum and Cultural Center.

Mrs. Emma Burt was the wife of Dr. Burt, as well as the nurse and anesthetist at their home infirmary. She was a native Clarksvillian and a graduate of the Clarksville Colored School, which was later named Burt High School after her husband. She was also the superintendent of the Sunday school at the St. Peter African Methodist Episcopal Church.

The Rev. Dr. Jerry G. Jerkins was the pastor of St John Missionary Baptist Church for 41 years. He helped lead the effort in renaming roadways to honor civil rights leaders, including Martin Luther King Jr. Parkway and Wilma Rudolph Boulevard. Likewise, Kraft Street was dedicated as Pastor Jerry G. Jerkins Memorial Highway after his passing in 2021. Jerkins also established the Wilbur N. Daniel African American Center at APSU. He was also president of the Clarksville chapter of the NAACP, where he organized protests and pushed for civil rights legislation.

Virginia Martin Hatcher was a local civil rights leader, who offered her home to the less-fortunate, fed the hungry and advocated for people in need. Hatcher was a counselor and a preacher to thousands of inmates at the Montgomery County Jail, whom she sent letters and Bibles to regularly. She and her husband Otis Martin opened a restaurant named Virginia’s Café on College Street.

Dr. Helen Long was a schoolteacher and humanitarian who graduated from the historical Burt High School in 1961. According to Foston Funeral Home, Long retired from Clarksville Montgomery County School System in 2012. She was a member of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Clarksville Civitan Club, Clarksville Community Black History Council, the Commission of Religion and Racism, and Habitat for Humanity. She was founder of the Black Interdisciplinary Center and of the Helen Anderson Long Academy in Liberia, Africa. Long was also a delegate to the Louis Sullivan Leadership Council in South Africa and Zimbabwe.

The Rev. Jimmie Terry Sr. was the pastor and founder of the Tabernacle Missionary Baptist Church on Market Street. According to previous reports, he petitioned the state to rename Highway 79, formerly Guthrie Highway, to Wilma Rudolph Boulevard, and he helped establish a committee to commission a statue in her honor, which is now located at the Wilma Rudolph Event Center at Liberty Park. Terry was a member of the first class of Leadership Clarksville in 1987. He was an original director of Legends Bank and served on the Clarksville Chamber of Commerce Board of Directors. He is memorialized in the Jimmy Terry Monument at McGregor Park, dedicated in February 2019, and a portion of Providence Boulevard as Pastor Jimmy Terry Sr. Memorial Highway.

You can donate to the monument’s construction at the Clarksville Arts & Heritage Council’s website.

Correction: Sidney Brown served on the Montgomery County Commission, not the City Council. The article has been updated.