Cities benefit from public art in a variety of ways. Public art can generate a measure of civic pride.It also has social benefits, giving residents a sense of place. Certainly this has been happening in Duluth as it has in other places. Public art can lift our spirits and it can also cause us to think. (I'm thinking here of the Clayton Jackson McGhie Memorial). According to a study at USC it can even improve academic achievement. Many cities use public art is a means of honoring significant luminaries who had once lived there or were born there.
"America's Photographer" Gary Firstenberg sent these photos from the neighborhood in Baltimore where Billie Holiday was raised.
Other luminaries from Charm City include Eubie Blake, Can Calloway, Frank Zappa, Babe Ruth, Thurgood Marshall, H.L. Mencken and many more.
