SARASOTA (SNN TV) – An initiative that began in 2021 brings two more murals to Sarasota.
This is through an initiative led by Newtown native Walter Gilbert in the city’s first Black community, the historic Overtown neighborhood, now called the Rosemary District.
Overtown was once filled with black business owners, skilled tradesmen, and city leaders. The Gilbert Mural Initiative uses public art to highlight the evolution of the neighborhood, according to the Herald-Tribune.
A Lewis and Irene Colson mural is on the Planned Parenthood building on Central Avenue; Lewis Colson was Overtown’s first developer in 1910 and assisted with Sarasota’s first black church, Bethlehem Baptist Church.
Leonard Reid hangs on The Sarasota Modern. Reid was the right-hand man to Sarasota’s first mayor, John Hamilton Gillespie.
The city of Sarasota, the Sarasota African American Cultural Coalition, and the Rosemary Arts and& Design District are supporting this project.
