Richmond Barthé, an African-American sculptor who gained prominence during the Harlem Renaissance, created an 8-foot by 80-foot frieze "Green Pastures: The Walls of Jericho" (1938), which has been located at the Kingsborough Houses since 1941.

Barthe’s largest work, "Green Pastures" was originally intended for the Harlem River Houses (1936-37), one of the nation’s first federal public housing projects, that was built for African Americans. He was recruited as part of a team of sculptors commissioned to create public art for the project through the Works Progress Administration. Barthé was interested in creating a site-specific work for the back wall of an amphitheater that would be used by African-American residents. The frieze was inspired by Marc Connelly’s 1930 Pulitzer-Prize winning play The Green Pastures, which portrays episodes from the Old Testament through the eyes of a young African-American child. This was Barthé’s first work in relief and he depicted scenes of African-inspired figures in two 40-foot Art-Deco stylized panels that he titled Exodus and Dance.

Months after the Harlem River Houses were opened, Barthé’s panels were still in storage since the amphitheater project was never built. As a federal employee, he had no control over what was done with his work and in 1941 the panels were installed without his consultation on one of the main walks at the Kingsborough Houses. Barthé was disappointed since, although low-income federal housing, African Americans were not the primary residents and therefore he felt the inspirational power of his work was diminished. Today, residents fondly refer to the work as “The Wall.”