About the Legacy Art Trail
In 1997, the Alabama Chapter of the National Multiple Sclerosis Society created the Legacy of Leadership campaign to honor leaders who have bettered our lives by finding creative solutions to community problems. Families recognized by the Legacy of Leadership campaign are those who have grown the arts, looked after the unfortunate, built businesses and created opportunity – people of vision. People who chose never to give up in their pursuits.
The Legacy of Leadership accomplishes several goals that are also goals of our community leaders. The first, of course is to enhance the quality of life of our citizens by eliminating a major health problem – multiple sclerosis. The second goal is to beautify our city with public art, which will in turn serve to attract more of our citizens to our city center for conducting business, for entertainment, and attending cultural events and activities. Last, but not least, the program accomplishes the goal of presenting role models for our youth with the hope that they will become inspired to aim for high accomplishments themselves.
We are pleased to introduce you to the Legacy Art Trail, which will take you on a visit to each of the works of art commissioned in honor of a visionary leader from the Birmingham community. The Legacy of Leadership campaign is designed to enhance the landscape of our city with sculpture and to provide visible references to the importance of art, history and the individuals who have shaped our community. The program is intended to honor those citizens who have made a difference in our community. The artwork is a lasting tribute to those individuals and how their contributions to our community have served to enhance the lives of its citizens.
In the process of providing public art and sculpture for our city, we will continue to create a trail of history and a legacy of role models for our future generations. We will also be raising money to cure multiple sclerosis, a disease of young adults.
About the MS Society
The National MS Society is a collective of passionate individuals who want to do something about MS now—to move together toward a world free of multiple sclerosis. MS stops people from moving. We exist to make sure it doesn’t.
We help each person address the challenges of living with MS through our 50-state network of chapters. The Society helps people affected by MS by funding cutting-edge research, driving change through advocacy, facilitating professional education, and providing programs and services that help people with MS and their families move their lives forward.
MS stops people from moving. The National MS Society exists to make sure it doesn’t. Join the movement at www.nationalMSsociety.org/alc or 800-344-4867.
Multiple sclerosis, an unpredictable, often disabling disease of the central nervous system, interrupts the flow of information within the brain, and between the brain and body. Every hour in the United States, someone is newly diagnosed with the disease. Symptoms range from numbness and tingling to blindness and paralysis. The progress, severity and specific symptoms of MS in any one person cannot yet be predicted, but advances in research and treatment are moving us closer to a world free of MS. Most people with MS are diagnosed between the ages of 20 and 50, with at least two to three times more women than men being diagnosed with the disease. MS affects more than one million people in the U.S.