The Air We Breathe Is Not Invisible – Sunday, May 4, 2025

Revitalizing the St. Mark’s Neighborhood Swim Pool with a Community Celebration

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Sunday, May 4, 2025 – 2pm – 6pm

The Roberson Project on Race, Slavery, and Reconciliation  is proud to present the public art event The Air We Breathe Is Not Invisible on Sunday, May 4, 2025 from 2:00 to 6:00 PM. This vibrant community gathering will reactivate the historic St. Mark’s neighborhood swimming pool, or “Swim Pool” as the neighborhood’s residents called it. Once a beloved gathering place for African Americans from Sewanee and surrounding communities, this site will be revived for a day of celebration, remembrance, and community building. The event follows Vanderbilt University artist Vesna Pavlović’s reimagination of the site in the fall of 2024. Inspired by the “Swim Pool” history and memory, Pavlović collaborated with the Roberson Project and the University’s Facilities Management to turn the pool into a garden of Spanish Bluebells. This event is free and open to everyone. Click here for more information.

Long time resident, the late Mrs. Lula Burnett, tells her story to Professor Courtney Thompson.

St. Mark’s Community History Reunion

Saturday, September 4, 2021 | St. Mark’s Community Center | 9am – 3pm

Come catch up with other black Sewanee community members while preserving your local history for future generations! Please bring any memorabilia that shows life in Sewanee. This can be photographs, scrapbooks, postcards, letters, family Bibles, school records, yearbooks, trophies, diplomas, etc. We will scan them and then return your physical copy to you along with a free digital copy on a USB drive. Food will be provided by the Roberson Project.