The Boston Black Panther Party was created in 1968 to meet the needs of Black communities, introduce young people to a revolutionary mindset and enable people to speak out on issues of government and policing. “Lorraine Wheeler, the leader of Path Forward, has been championing the preservation of the character of the neighborhood.” The installation explores the community activism of the Black Panthers in Boston. “Through engaging with Path Forward, we found out that there used to be a house on that particular site on Winthrop Street that was used by the Black Panthers to promote food access, access to health care and other programs they were running,” Mokwete says. So began the journey to reclaim a piece of history. In the early stages of the Roxbury project, Mokwete assigned five of his Northeastern graduate students to research the legacy of the Black Panthers in Boston. “So I’ve been working with them and with students to explore ways for preserving green space and affordable housing as well as cultural sites and local heritage narratives for communities.” Photo courtesy Killion Mokwete Photo courtesy Killion Mokwete Photo courtesy Killion Mokwete The installation was developed and built in collaboration with the community and other supporters. “Path Forward has been advocating for preserving heritage buildings and sites in the community-and also for things like affordable housing and open spaces for kids,” says Mokwete, whose teaching and work focuses on community-based designs. Other collaborators include the Boston Celtics, Beyond Walls and Northeastern’s College of Arts, Media and Design.
It is funded by the City of Boston and managed by The Trustees of Reservations. The garden, which will formally open Saturday morning, was developed in conjunction with Roxbury Path Forward Neighborhood Association and other community leaders. The newly designed Winthrop Community Garden in Roxbury is a multi-faceted art installation-driven in part by Mokwete’s students-that commemorates the Black Panther Party and its efforts on behalf of the Roxbury community. Photo by Matthew Modoono/Northeastern Universit Northeastern assistant professor of architecture Killion Mokwete. His latest work is in Roxbury, less than 2 miles south of Northeastern’s Boston campus. Northeastern assistant professor of architecture Killion Mokwete has developed projects around the world-from his native Botswana to the U.K., Greece, Russia and beyond.
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