ALWH has been saying her name ever since \u2014 honoring her and the Black girlhood that she and others like her embody. ALWH<\/a> provides artistic, advocacy and leadership programming to Black girls and young women to help them drive change within their communities. Boyd was one of several Black girls and women featured in ALWH\u2019s \u201cBlack Girlhood Altar,<\/a>\u201d a community monument to missing and murdered Black girls.<\/p>\n The November celebration at Homan Square\u2019s Nichols Tower was ebullient with food, camaraderie and conversation about Boyd\u2019s legacy. Many attendees wore Boyd\u2019s favorite color, yellow, and commiserated amidst pictures of a young, smiling Boyd and renderings of projects artists hope will be developed to pay homage to Boyd in North Lawndale\u2019s Douglass Park. Artists Nina Cooke John, Tatyana Fazlalizadeh, Tiff Massey, Sonja Henderson and Nekisha Durrett gave presentations. The proposals are finalists for the Rekia Boyd Monument Project.<\/p>\n \u201cRekia was something different,\u201d said Boyd\u2019s sister, Natasha Williams. \u201cWe used to call her the $5 sister, because she\u2019d ask for $5 and take our children \u2014 have them for 10 hours a day. She just needed $5 for nine children to take out to the park. I don\u2019t know what they did, but they were happy. Rekia was all about smiles. She had this crazy laugh. That\u2019s how a lot of people know her and her saying, \u2018Hey girl!\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n Cooke John\u2019s vision for the Rekia Boyd Monument Project is called \u201cSweet Harbor.\u201d It centers various wood shapes in a lush green space for sitting, playing and engaging with.<\/p>\n \u201cI see 10-year-olds walking on it like you might a balance beam or jumping off and over it,\u201d said Cooke John about her public art proposal. \u201cI see a lot of temporary activation as well. The idea that you can bring with you your ropes, tie them and use them for double dutch. It (the wood) becomes the instigator for new creativity, but it still has parts of it that stay the same. It can be dynamic in terms of how you engage with it. \u2026 It changes with the seasons.\u201d<\/p>\n Cooke John is interested in collecting words from healing circles and capturing sounds of people having a good time to create a score that plays. The soundscape is an audio component that makes the park space multi-sensory.<\/p>\n Massey\u2019s endeavor, \u201cRekia\u2019s Sound Garden,\u201d features sunflowers; Durrett\u2019s work \u201cR.E.K.I.A,\u201d makes each letter of her name a playground where children can play; Fazlalizadeh\u2019s project \u201cFor Rekia, For Us\u201d is ladened with flowers; and Boyd\u2019s visage incorporated in a plaza with powerful words about Black girls; while Henderson\u2019s monument concept includes a sonic garden tuned by Sadie Woods<\/a> with a 9-foot bronze statue of Boyd in the parabola garden. Boyd\u2019s bodice is draped in a gown covered in bronze bells that can be rung and engraved by community members. The space is multi-generational and centers play and rest. Henderson said it\u2019s about frequency, and coming together in fellowship. If her proposal is chosen, she will also have a film component, one about the making of the monument and retelling Boyd\u2019s story.<\/p>\n \u201cRekia Boyd, who we revere and love, was a human being, and it\u2019s important to acknowledge her as such,\u201d Henderson said in her presentation. \u201cShe was taken from us because she was being too loud. And so our vision is to give her her voice back. We\u2019re doing that with a bell. This is the voice that is going to be heard around the world. Your voices now perpetuate Rekia\u2019s story and her promise. You are the future. You are her future.\u201d<\/p>\n Each proposal showcased ALWH\u2019s decades-long mission of empowerment.<\/p>\n \u201cThis is a rare thing \u2014 there aren\u2019t that many Black women monuments,\u201d said Scheherazade Tillet, ALWH\u2019s co-founder and executive director. \u201cNot only is it about Rekia \u2026 we don\u2019t have these sculptures to represent us. It\u2019s even more sacred as a reclaiming of space. I was told to look for a yellow banner around a tree in 2015 to remember Rekia. That was the only marker that you had. I think there is something joyful in this moment. It\u2019s a heavy topic, but that\u2019s the work of a long walk home \u2014 every project we do, we keep on remembering her, and we bring on other people.\u201d<\/p>\n ALWH is helming the Rekia Boyd Monument Project in partnership with the Department of Cultural Affairs and Special Events, Chicago Parks District and Monument Lab (part of the Chicago Monuments Project). The monument is among eight new monuments<\/a> funded through a partnership between DCASE and the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation. A decision on the selection for the monument is slated for January 2026, with fruition expected in 2026-27, according to Lydia Ross, DCASE senior strategist, who has been leading the Chicago Monument Project recently. The project started in 2020 as a response to the city of Chicago\u2019s need for a larger reckoning with monuments and more inclusive narratives of the city\u2019s history.<\/p>\n \u201cThese projects are deeply emotional, personal, also political,\u201d Ross said. \u201cWhen people have been suppressed, ignored, misrepresented for centuries\u2026 to have an opportunity where we\u2019re saying, \u2018how do we change the built environment of our city?\u2019 That passion isn\u2019t going away.\u201d<\/p>\n Just like the love and memories of Boyd.<\/p>\n \u201cI know she loved children. She always loved children. She liked the color yellow, and she was very outgoing, adventurous,\u201d Williams said. \u201cTo see that someone is taking time out to keep Rekia\u2019s name alive\u2026 I really appreciate what everyone is doing for our family.\u201d<\/p>\n![\"A](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/ctc-l-nina-cooke-john-sweet-harbor.jpg\")
A rendering of the proposed installation, “Sweet Harbor.” (Nina Cooke John)<\/p>\n![\"A](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/ctc-l-sonja-henderson-rekia-boyd-monument-project-01.jpg\")
A rendering for the Rekia Boyd Monument Project. (Sonja Henderson)<\/p>\n![\"A](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/ctc-l-nekisha-durrett-REKIA-02.jpg\")
A rendering of the proposed installation, “R.E.K.I.A.” (Nekisha Durrett)<\/p>\n![\"A](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/ctc-l-tiff-massey-rekias-sound-garden.jpg\")
A rendering of the proposed installation, “Rekia’s Sound Garden.” (Tiff Massey)<\/p>\n