Freedom Wall

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The Freedom Wall, located at the corner of Michigan Avenue and East Ferry Street in Buffalo, New York, is a mural depicting twenty-eight civil rights leaders active anytime from the 19th to the 21st centuries, ranging from William Wells Brown (born 1815) to Alicia Garza (born 1981).[1] The project was commissioned by the Albright–Knox Art Gallery's Public Art Initiative in 2017,[2] along with a 30-minute film of the same name about the mural. In 2019, WNED-TV broadcast the film about the mural.[3][4]

History[edit]

Commissioned by Aaron Ott, the curator of the Albright–Knox Art Gallery's Public Art Initiative, the mural was initially intended to be Chuck Tingley alone, but following comments by the African-American community, African-American artists John Baker, Julia Bottoms and Edreys Wajed were also hired to work on the wall.[3] Each artist completed seven panels of the mural,[5] which took two months.[6]

Mural[edit]

The mural depicts twenty-eight civil rights leaders, chosen from 300 suggestions.[7] It is fifteen feet high and 300 feet long[6] and located at the corner of Michigan Avenue and East Ferry Street in Buffalo, New York.[1] The figures included are:[3][5][7]

References[edit]

  1. ^ a b "Freedom Wall welcomes visitors to Buffalo's African American Heritage Corridor". news.wbfo.org.
  2. ^ "Freedom Wall a portrait gallery of civil rights champions". January 18, 2019.
  3. ^ a b c Pergament, Alan (February 5, 2019). "WNED-TV celebrates 'The Freedom Wall' with program airing tonight". The Buffalo News. Retrieved April 25, 2019.
  4. ^ "The Freedom Wall". WNED-TV. Retrieved April 25, 2019.
  5. ^ a b "The Freedom Wall". Albright–Knox Art Gallery. Retrieved April 25, 2019.
  6. ^ a b Randall, Mike (January 18, 2018). "Local artist helped paint the Freedom Wall". WKBW-TV. Retrieved April 25, 2019.
  7. ^ a b "The Freedom Wall". Buffalo Rising. August 14, 2017. Retrieved April 25, 2019.

External links[edit]