Collaborative Project: Recognizes an original project in the performing, visual or multi-disciplinary arts illustrating the power of collaboration to advance and support arts and culture in the community.
Sojourner Truth Legacy Plaza – Towanda Mullins
The story of the Sojourner Truth Legacy Plaza began more than twenty years ago, when University of Akron professor emeritus Faye Hersh Dambrot proposed the creation of a statue of Truth and renowned local artist Woodrow Nash first developed a prototype. But without sufficient funding, the project was put on hold.
In 2019, the Summit Suffrage Centennial Committee, convened by Summit County Executive Ilene Shapiro to commemorate the 100-year anniversary of women’s suffrage, revived the project. Working with Woodrow Nash and a new coalition of partners – including United Way of Summit & Medina, which provided the site for the project – the Committee brought the new landmark, more than two decades in the making, to life.
Members of the Sojourner Truth Project Core Committee:
- Towanda Mullins – Chair – Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc., Akron Alumnae Chapter
- Theresa Carter – Fundraising – President, Synthomer Foundation
- Pamela Hickson-Stevenson – Communications – Executive Director, Akron-Summit County Public Library
- Margaret Maurer – Education – Women’s Interfaith Spiritual Heritage (WISH)
- Woodrow Nash – Design Team – International Sculptor
- Ilene Shapiro – Summit County Executive
- Lisa King – Fundraising – Executive Director, Summit Metro Parks
- Leianne Neff Heppner – Project Historian – CEO, Summit County Historical Society of Akron, Ohio
- Jackie Derrow – Communications – Past President, League of Women Voters of Akron
- Dion Harris – Design Team – Landscape Architect, Summit Metro Parks
