Hadley-Lillard Park's connection to Nashville's civil-rights history will be on display this weekend as the African Street Festival returns for its 44th year. The free event begins Friday at 5 p.m. and continues through Sunday at 1037 28th Avenue North, with music, food, art and family activities celebrating African and African American culture. Saturday and Sunday hours are 11 a.m. to 9 p.m.
The festival is organized by the African American Cultural Alliance, whose CEO Jeneene Blackman told WKRN News 2 that the park's namesake, Kwame Lillard, is remembered for his activism, his role as a Freedom Rider, and his work preserving Nashville history. Lillard founded the African Street Festival and was a central figure in Nashville's civil rights movement. According to a tribute published on Medium by Dr. Sekou Franklin, Lillard once drove late at night to the Alabama-Tennessee border in 1961 to rescue student Freedom Riders after Birmingham Sheriff Bull Connor had expelled them into hostile territory, helping them safely rejoin the movement.
Lillard also challenged segregation in Nashville. A statement published on NationBuilder recounts how he led a 1961 effort to desegregate the whites-only pool at Centennial Park, prompting city officials to close public pools rather than integrate them. According to AACA Nashville organizational records, the alliance he established with other community leaders promotes African and Diaspora heritage through arts, theatrics and education.
A Park Rooted in Civil Rights History
Lillard passed away on December 20, 2020, at age 81. The following June, the Metropolitan Board of Parks and Recreation voted to petition state officials to formally rename the grounds Hadley-Lillard Park in his honor, as reported by WPLN News. A Metro Nashville Parks and Recreation notice said the proposed renaming was intended to honor Lillard as an important figure in Nashville's civil-rights movement and a lifelong advocate for social justice. The park itself carries its own historic weight: dedicated on July 4, 1912, on 34 acres of former plantation land where Frederick Douglass once spoke in 1873, Hadley Park is recognized as the nation's first public park established specifically for African Americans, according to historical marker data compiled by RootsWeb.
The surrounding neighborhood reflects that legacy today. North Nashville has long stood as a major center for Black culture, business and higher education, though it has weathered significant disruption. The construction of Interstate 40 through the area in the late 1950s and 1960s destroyed hundreds of Black-owned businesses along historic Jefferson Street and displaced more than 1,000 residents, according to a Nashville Public Television historical summary published by Scenic America. Jefferson Street had been a famed Southern music hub that once hosted artists like Jimi Hendrix and Ray Charles.
Ongoing Investment in the Neighborhood
That history of displacement is part of why current municipal efforts around the corridor carry weight. This past May, Metro Nashville urban planners held public input sessions, including an open house at the Hadley Park Community Center, to gather feedback on a draft corridor plan aimed at restoring green space, pedestrian safety and cultural landmarks along Jefferson Street, as Hoodline previously reported. Separately, local arts, education and community initiatives are part of the broader discussion.
What Metro's Jefferson Street Plans Would Do
Metro Nashville says its Complete Streets program is evaluating improvements along Jefferson Street to make the North Nashville corridor safer, more connected and more accessible for residents, businesses, transit riders and visitors while recognizing its historic and cultural significance. The effort is a planning study, not a completed project. Metro's mayoral commitments tracker listed Jefferson Street redevelopment as in progress in its summer 2022 update, including a proposed multimodal cap and connector intended to reconnect a community divided by Interstate 40. The Complete Streets program and the Mayor's Office commitments tracker describe these as proposed or ongoing efforts rather than finished improvements.
What's Happening at This Year's Festival
This year's lineup leans heavily into family programming. The festival features a new children's stage, an art-making tent, a build-a-fort installation, and a visit from PBS's Daniel Tiger, alongside knowledge, arts, and health and wellness villages. Saturday includes a Be Our Neighbor Day, and health-related activities such as yoga are offered throughout the weekend, per the festival's organizers.
Elisheba Mrozik, affiliated with the North Nashville Arts Coalition, said the festival will introduce new art styles to the community. Dr. Phyllis Hildreth is scheduled to demonstrate spinning raw fiber into thread, offering festivalgoers a hands-on look at traditional craft. The Nashville Symphony will perform an ensemble Sunday afternoon, adding a classical note to a weekend otherwise built around free musical performances, food, art and what organizers describe as a journey through African culture.
The African American Cultural Alliance is currently seeking sponsors to help keep the annual event going, organizers said. More details on the schedule and vendors, which have numbered more than 130 local and international businesses in past years drawing crowds exceeding 50,000 according to The Tennessee Tribune, are available at africanstreetfestival.com.
