Buried history of Civil Rights visionaries comes to life in Philadelphia murals

UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — The award-winning Colored Conventions Project, housed at Penn State’s Center for Black Digital Research, partnered with Mural Arts Philadelphia to create a two-panel mural at The Courtyard Apartments at Riverview in South Philadelphia.

Dedicated at a celebration held on Oct. 28, the ​mural by African American muralist Ernel Martinez illustrates how Philadelphia is central to the larger story of hundreds of “Conventions of Colored People” that were held over more than 70 years across almost every state and territory in the expanding United States and Canada. Approximately 300 people attended the dedication over the course of the day.

Approximately 300 people attended the dedication ceremony, which included several speakers, including State Representative Chris Rabb, who read from a speech given by his great, great, great grandfather at a Rhode Island Convention.

The first mural commemorates the city where the historic Colored Conventions Movement first began. The second mural commemorates Black political organizing and protests since the convention, linking the 19th-century organizing efforts of Black people for dignity, voting rights, and education to current day protests over the disenfranchisement and violence Black communities continue to face.

“Culture is one of the most important conduits of Black histories, and it’s central to Black organizing,” noted P. Gabrielle Foreman, CCP founding faculty director, Paterno Family Professor of American Literature, professor of African American studies and history, and 2022 MacArthur Fellow. “This is the first public arts commemoration of an early movement for Black rights and dignity that has been largely erased from public memory. We are delighted to partner with Mural Arts Philadelphia and the Courtyard community to bring Black history to life on the walls of the city where this historic movement began.”

Foreman added how important it is to acknowledge the roles of mural project co-coordinators Denise Burgher and Brandi Locke in bringing the project to life. Burgher leads the Colored Conventions curriculum committee and is director of community engagement for the Center for Black Digital Research. Locke is a research coordinator with the Colored Conventions Project where she leads projects in digital archives and arts partnerships. Both Burgher and Locke are doctoral candidates at the University of Delaware.

“The three of us collaborated closely, but they were the brains and the brawn behind the mural project,” Foreman said. Samantha de Vera, head of the CCP exhibits committee, and Jim Casey, CCP co-founder and associate director of the CBDR also were part of the project team.

“[Philadelphia] was a central birthplace of African American collective self-determination,” Burgher noted. “AME Bishop Richard Allen heard how Black Ohioans were suffering at the hands of violent white mobs that opposed their freedom, and he and Black Philadelphians launched a national movement for voting and labor rights, education, abolition, and freedom from racial violence that continues today.”

“Together, these formal, deeply democratic, conventions formed America’s first civil rights movement,” added Locke. “And it all started right here in Philadelphia, at the Mother Bethel AME Church in 1830.”

The public is welcome to visit the mural and the online digital exhibit that accompanies it at http://coloredconventions.org/mural-arts. People can also visit Mural Arts Philadelphia’s website for information about walking tours that will soon include the murals.