Upon entering the new Roswell Park Comprehensive Cancer Center Community Outreach & Engagement Center at 907 Michigan Avenue, visitors are greeted with scenes from important physical landmarks in the African American history of Buffalo.
Embossed in gold print on black wallpaper are nine images of culturally significant buildings, some lesser known than the famed Colored Musicians Club but all of which are of equal importance.
“The history is literally on the walls,” says Nikia Clark-Robinson, Director of Community Outreach & Engagement at Roswell Park.
When the building was in the final stages of construction last summer, the project’s designer worked with Clark and Terry Alford, Executive Director of the Michigan Street African American Heritage Corridor, to select the structures to include.
“The idea was, considering where this building is located, it would be great to bring more awareness to African American historical landmarks that people may not have known about, covering the categories of faith-based places, education, political movement, business and community,” Clark says.
Once the nine buildings were selected, the images were provided to Red Disk, a manufacturing company on Great Arrow Avenue in North Buffalo, to fabricate the custom-made, silk-screened wallpaper. Two versions were made, one in black and one in green. The green wallpaper was installed inside the large meeting room, which is available for community groups to reserve for free through Roswell Park’s Community Outreach & Engagement office.
Bringing history to life
Kandice Hailey, another member of the COE team, was fascinated by the wallpaper when she joined the team last summer. She took it upon herself to do a little digging into the buildings to learn more about them.
“I was really surprised to learn about the Mary B. Talbert House at…
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