African American Research Library

“The Bridge” monument was designed in 2002 for the African-American Research Library and Cultural Center in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. The facility is only the third of its kind in the United States.

Gadson’s work was cast in bronze and aptly named “The Bridge.” Fashioned in the shape of a drum and topped with the universal African Adinkra symbol, Gadson’s monument is much more than an image, it tells a story of the struggles and successes of the African-American people in their quest for freedom. The drum design represents the instrument used in the African culture as a form of communication. The work incorporates the image of the Edmund Pettis Bridge in Selma, Alabama where Civil Rights Leader Martin Luther King Jr. led a series of marches that brought media attention to the violence and discrimination that barred blacks from the voting polls.

The marches ultimately prompted President Lyndon B. Johnson to introduce a comprehensive voting rights bill to Congress. On August 6, 1965, he signed the Voting Rights Act, which provided federal supervision of voter registration practices, effectively opening the polls to African Americans throughout the South for the first time since the end of Reconstruction.

Incorporating the Library’s strategic plan and key issues – geography, technology, economic, educational and cultural elements -Gadson intricately wove them into the design. A geographic bridge connects the historically black community to the newly revitalized downtown Fort Lauderdale, a technological bridge of access to the new computer-oriented 21st century, an economic bridge offering services for small community businesses, an educational bridge providing lifelong learning to people of all ages, and finally, there is a cultural bridge that celebrates art, dance, theatre and literature.

Completing the monument is the Adinkra symbol that is placed atop the drum. It is a symbol of the Ashanti people of county of Ghana representing humility, strength, wisdom and learning.