On Thursday, Aug. 28, the city of Atlanta celebrated the 95th birthday of civil rights trailblazer Xernona Clayton with an evening surrounded by hundreds of friends and supporters at a public art installation unveiling in her honor at Hardy Ivy Park in downtown Atlanta.
Clayton, born Aug. 30, 1930, in Muskogee, Oklahoma, worked closely with Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. during the Civil Rights Movement as a member of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference. He was honored with Legacy in Bloom, an evening celebration featuring nature-inspired art installations by three Atlanta artists.
The event, held from 5 to 7 p.m. at Hardy Ivy Park on West Peachtree Street, showcased works by artists Chloe Alexander, Grace Kisa, and Sayma Hossain, each interpreting Clayton’s remarkable legacy through different artistic mediums.
Artist Grace Kisa spent about 30 days creating “Variation on a Dream,” a two-piece installation featuring abstract trees connected by flowing vines. The work draws inspiration from Clayton’s former talk show called “Variations” and represents the cross-pollination of ideas in community building.
“So you need a male and a female tree, the vines that are going through is the energy that’s transmitted,” Kisa explained. “And then the trumpet, this is an abstract version of the trumpet flower for the Trumpet Awards, is pollinating each other.”
The reference to the Trumpet Awards holds special significance, as Clayton founded the awards program in 1993 with Turner Broadcasting to honor African American accomplishments and contributions. Clayton serves as founder, president, and CEO of the Trumpet Awards Foundation.
“In this space, in this garden, she is the gardener,” Kisa said of Clayton’s role in nurturing civil rights progress. “These are the fruit of those ideas.”
The installation is positioned strategically around Clayton’s existing statue in the park, creating what Kisa described as a conversation between the artworks. “It looks like she’s presenting them and they’re talking to each other,” Kisa said. “She is the gardener in the center, and then them on each side, pollinating.”
Artist Sayma Hossain contributed two pieces that carved out different aspects of Clayton’s career, highlighting her work as an executive broadcaster at Turner Broadcasting and her leadership roles with the King Center and NAACP board. One piece is positioned by the arc, while another sits by the fence behind Clayton’s statue.
“She’s turning 95 and to celebrate her legacy, two other artists and I were asked to create work to honor her,” Hossain said. “I carved out, like, parts of her legacy, like when she was executive at Turner and when she was at the King Center- like just really amazing things,” said Hossain.
The celebration was emceed by veteran Atlanta broadcaster Fred Blankenship, who called Clayton “the link from the King family to her media roots, to the civil rights struggle, to where we are today.”
“I feel blessed to have the opportunity to talk to a living legend like Xenora Clayton,” Blankenship said. “She is the link. And to have her to be able to tell the stories of yesterday and make them relevant today, ain’t nothing like it.”
Blankenship reflected on the unique opportunity to learn from such historic figures. “I have the ability to trace my steps back through history. Who can say that? We live in a place where we have our Xenora Claytons, we have our Andrew Youngs, and it’s such an honor to be able to still pull from these legends.”
During the event, Clayton shared a personal story about experiencing racial discrimination with Dr. King at an Atlanta hotel in the 1960s. She recalled how they were denied service despite King’s efforts to impress guests from New York with a nice dinner.
“Dr. King said, You think it’s a problem here? And I said, Well, I have no idea, because I knew I had done my job,” Clayton remembered. When they called the general manager, he responded dismissively, saying, “You colored people anyway, trying to break into our operations.”
The group was forced to leave, walking out onto the corner where the Hyatt was under construction. “Dr. King said, Well, I guess we’ll have to count on that to treat us decently, because none of these places would,” Clayton recalled. “And he said, maybe we can get them to treat us right, treat us like citizens. Take our money and treat us right.”
Clayton noted that when the Southern Christian Leadership Conference became one of the Hyatt’s first operations, “they treated us with respect that day, and they’re treating us with respect” ever since.
The evening featured live music by Melvin Miller and Kathleen Bertrand, poetry by Hank Stewart, a DJ set by Sed The Saint, and refreshments, including ice pops, for attendees.
The free public event was designed to be accessible to the entire Atlanta community in honor of Clayton’s lifelong commitment to bringing people together across racial and social divides.
As artists like Kisa hope visitors will understand, the installation is about more than just the art. It is about community building and the power of ideas. Kisa said she wants people to think deeply about Clayton’s approach to creating change and fostering connections.
Kisa emphasized that the garden metaphor extends beyond her own work to encompass all the installations. She described how the artists’ works complement each other, with her piece serving as an entrance from one end of the park, while other installations guide visitors through different pathways, ultimately leading to Clayton’s statue as the centerpiece of the artistic conversation.
“I can’t dictate what it is that people feel, but at least I want them to be drawn in to what this is,” Kisa said, noting that she included a statement at the base of her installation explaining the piece.
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Noah Washington
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