OAKWOOD \u2014 Four years after the installation of the \u201cLight of Truth\u201d Ida B. Wells National Monument, community leaders and neighbors gathered Friday to honor the late artist responsible for the sculpture.<\/p>\n
In unveiling a plaque honoring Richard Hunt, the Ida B. Wells Commemorative Art Committee also honored the donors who made the 20-foot monument possible. The monument was one of the last installations created by Hunt, a Chicago native who died in 2023, and is stationed at Ellis Park, 3729 S. Langley Ave.<\/p>\n
The three plaques installed at the base of the sculpture each recognize the late sculptor, donors \u2014 including a group of nearby day campers who raised $450 on their own \u2014 and former residents of the Ida B. Wells Homes, all of whom worked tirelessly to bring \u201cLight of Truth\u201d to Bronzeville.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The unveiling was emotional for Cecilia Hunt, who grew up watching her father turn scraps into masterpieces in the basement studio he shared with her mother.<\/p>\n
\u201cToday is quite auspicious in a way, because of everything we\u2019re going through. This gives me some hope. I\u2019m just so glad that the community wanted this and did this. Being at the studio, watching my dad through the generations \u2026 Just the idea of the little kids giving [money], I welled up,\u201d Cecilia Hunt said.<\/p>\n
Her father\u2019s quest for found materials would lead them to the junkyard, which was like a trip to the candy store for the younger Hunt. <\/p>\n
\u201cThe junkyard and the hardware store, it was an adventure. My mom and dad made jewelry, so we\u2019d go to the hardware store together. Even when they divorced, we\u2019d go together. I\u2019d be so excited,\u201d recalled Cecilia Hunt.<\/p>\n
![\"This](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/HuntPlaque34-1024x666.jpg\")
This plaque honoring the residents of the former Ida B. Wells Homes is one of three that were unveiled in a special ceremony at the \u201cLight of Truth\u201d Ida B. Wells Monument July 18, 2025. Credit: Jamie Nesbitt Golden \/ Block Club Chicago<\/p>\n
The committee spent years building support for the project, finding champions in former Alds. Sophia King and Shirley Newsome<\/a>, who helped fundraising efforts. King appeared at last week\u2019s ceremony, but did not speak.<\/p>\n Monument committee Chairman Anthony Rogers spoke of the long, arduous process of completing the project, and how the artist would tease the group with alternate renderings to encourage the team to meet their fundraising goal.<\/p>\n \u201cIt gave us the inspiration we needed to wrap it up,\u201d said Rogers, adding that Hunt\u2019s \u201cquiet activism\u201d and his experiences as a Black man in America made the project a personal one for the artist.<\/p>\n The 20-foot-tall structure bears images and quotes from Wells, the journalist and suffragette who lived a few blocks away from the park where it now stands. Wells is one of two Black women to be honored with a national monument in the city, alongside Mamie Till. Poet and author Gwendolyn Brooks also has a sculpture in her honor in Brooks Park<\/a>.<\/p>\n![\"A](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/HuntPlaque12-1024x666.jpg\")
A plaque honoring late artist Richard Hunt and donors who made the \u2018Light of Truth\u201d monument possible was unveiled in a special ceremony July 18. Credit: Jamie Nesbitt Golden \/ Block Club Chicago<\/p>\n