Public Leadership in the Arts Award goes to Mobile County commissioner

Key Takeaways

Surrounded by her peers Saturday, July 13, Mobile County, Ala. Commissioner Merceria Ludgood received the Public Leadership in the Arts Award from Americans for the Arts at a reception held at the Tampa Museum of Art during the NACo Annual Conference.

Ludgood held her award, a glass bowl created by artist Nicholas Nourot, before addressing the gathering. “Thank you to NACo’s Arts and Culture Commission and Americans for the Arts for this recognition,” she said, surrounded by members of the commission as well as members of the Women of NACo leadership networking group, who co-hosted the event.

Ludgood is being honored for her work highlighting a unique story about a slave ship, the Clotilda, which landed in Mobile 50 years after the practice was outlawed in the United States. After the ship was discovered in 2018 and verified the following year, a community called Africatown, founded by survivors of that dire voyage, needed help sharing their story. 

Ludgood spearheaded an effort to build Africatown Heritage House to tell the story and house the ship’s artifacts. It opened in July 2023. She partnered with the History Museum of Mobile to develop “Clotilda: The Exhibition at Africatown Heritage House,” which features West African art, primary artifacts, pieces of the ship and more. A sculpture she commissioned and named, called the Memory Keeper, is featured in the Memorial Garden, symbolizing the survivors, their voyage and their lives in Alabama.

“The arts can trigger difficult conversations,” Ludgood noted in her remarks. “They offer ways to tell tragic stories while weaving in hope and triumph throughout. Adults can find release, healing and a place where they feel understood. The arts can change a community’s self-image. All of this has happened in my county because of the arts.”

Last month, Mobile County also celebrated the opening of Africatown Hall & Food Bank, featuring Afro-centric art. It will also house the Africatown Redevelopment Corporation, a community food pantry as well as serve as a meeting and work space for local organizations working to meet not only community needs, but its location as a cultural/heritage tourism destination.

Ludgood was also recognized Sunday, July 14, before a wider audience at the General Session at the Tampa Convention Center.