During the development of the aesthetic design for the Dayton Peace Bridge, citizens requested informational tablatures that would cover various topics important to the neighborhood and the Miami Valley as a whole. Ultimately, these eight highlighted topics were chosen by the public to be placed on the bridge. Because these tablatures are static and limited in physical size, it was decided that this web page would accompany the tablatures. Though this website does provide some additional information on a few of the individuals highlighted within the tablatures, it’s true purpose is to act as a ‘switch board’ to other websites which are more of an authority on one or more of the eight topics. Another intent of this website is to promote exploration of the Miami Valley. This was done by selecting websites that have physical locations within the Miami Valley. That way, though you may have come to this website for one of the tablature topics, we encourage you to explore the other seven and all of their physical locations.
What dreams we have and how they fly
Like rosy clouds across the sky;
Of wealth, of fame, of sure success,
Of love that comes to cheer and bless;
And how they whither, how they fade,
The waning wealth, the jilting jade—
The fame that for a moment gleams,
Then flies forever,—dreams, ah—dreams!
Dreams by Paul Laurence Dunbar
Paul Laurence Dunbar (June 27, 1872–February 9, 1906) was an American poet and author who was best known in his lifetime for his dialect work and his use of metaphor and rhetoric, often in a conversational style. In his short career he produced an impressive twelve books of poetry, four novels, four books of short stories, and lyrics to many popular songs. Dunbar became the first African American to support himself financially through his writing.
In the 1970s and 1980s a new genre of music made Dayton the “Land of the Funk,” thanks to funk music groups like the Ohio Players, Steve Arrington’s Hall of Fame, Zapp, Faze-O, Heatwave, Sun, Slave, and Lakeside.
Funk bands, primarily from the West Side, continue to be heard today in hip-hop, house, and other popular musical forms. The Ohio Players—“the grand-daddies of ’em all”—have influenced contemporary artists such as Snoop Dogg, Puff Daddy, Salt-N-Pepa, Soundgarden, and the Red Hot Chili Peppers.
Dayton came of age in the 1800s during the American Industrial Revolution—an era when invention, innovation and industrialization swept across the United States. Dayton played a major role in this growth. The city ranked fifth in the nation in terms of patents granted per capita as early as 1870. Twenty years later, it led the nation. Dayton promoted itself as the City of a Thousand Factories.
These factories attracted business leaders and engineers. With them came their ideas, which led to thousands of inventions and innovations that changed the world. Dayton has been the incubator for inventors like Charles Kettering, Wilbur and Orville Wright, James Parsons, James and John Ritty, Leland Clark (Heart-Lung Machine), John Balsley (folding step ladder), Carl Carlson (microfiche), Daniel Webster Schaeffer (gas masks), and many more.
The legacy of invention and innovation continues in the many high-tech and other industries that call Dayton home today.
Dayton celebrates Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. every January with a weeklong event including a peace march. Emphasizing justice and peace, the march held on Dr. King’s birthday begins at Westown. Marchers pass important sites including the Veterans Administration Hospital, the offices of the Dayton chapter of the SCLC, and the Dayton branch of the NAACP. The march ends at the Dayton Convention Center, where marchers strategize ways to help create the “just society” that Dr. King often spoke about. They also participate in other MLK celebration events.
The Wright brothers, Wilbur (April 16, 1867–May 30, 1912) and Orville (August 19, 1871–January 30, 1948) were two brothers from Dayton, Ohio. They were printers, bicycle makers, and inventors of the world’s first successful heavier-than-air powered flying machine. Their 1905 Wright Flyer III is considered the first truly practical flying machine and is on display at Carillon Park. In 1908 Wilbur in Europe and Orville at Fort Myer, Virginia, demonstrated that they were masters of the sky, catapulting them to fame as leading figures in aviation.
These contemporary pattern groupings are inspired from traditional African fabric designs, English and Amish quilts.
The adinkra symbols, borrowed from the Akan culture of West Africa, reflect traditional mores and specific communal values, philosophical concepts, codes of conduct, and social standards that served their communities in years-gone-by, and have meaning for us today.
These strong graphic adinkra symbols, once used only for special occasions, have gained international attention and use because of the universal appeal of their artistic form and meaning.
The adinkra symbols for the Third Street Bridge were selected because of their meanings, interpretations, and potential ability to inform, inspire and unify the diverse communities of Dayton and the Miami Valley.
The adinkra symbols can be viewed as proverbs similar to some that we grew up with,
for example:
“Birds of a feather…”
“Speak soft and carry…”
“Still water runs deep”
The patterns that alternate with the adinkra symbols on the sidewalk treatment are groupings of geometric patterns that can be seen in my Ancestral Spirit Dance painting series.
SPIRIT OF DANCE
The alternating pattern between the adinkra symbols is a pattern design from the Bing Davis Ancestral Spirit Dance painting series.
These contemporary pattern groupings are inspired from traditional African fabric designs, English and Amish quilts. These alternating patterns give syncopation to the adinkra symbols as they move across the sidewalk of the bridge.
—Willis Bing Davis
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