Photo courtesy of McCracken County Schools
PADUCAH — 16 influential Black leaders — all painted by local high school students — are being featured in a colorful, portable, mixed-media "mural" displayed at Kirchhoff's Deli and Bakery.
Director of Public Relations Jayme Jones says McCracken County High School National Art Honor Society and African American Leadership Club members worked together on the project.
Portrait of Frederick Douglass, United States Minister Resident to Haiti, and famed author of the autobiography "A Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, an American Slave".
Each of the projects' panels feature a historical or contemporary leader, with examples of their accomplishments integrated into the piece.
The following individuals were included in the mural:
Barack Obama
Barack Obama was the 44th president of the United States, serving from 2000 through 2017. Before making history as the first African American president of the U.S., he was the first African American president of the Harvard Law Review. After graduating with a law degree, the White House says he joined a small Chicago law firm specializing in civil rights. In 1996, he was elected to the Illinois Senate and in 2004, to the U.S. Senate.
Michael Jordan
Considered by the National Basketball Association to be the greatest player of all time, Jordan is credited by the organization as single-handedly redefining what it meant to be an NBA superstar. He was cut from the varsity basketball team as a sophomore at his North Carolina high school, but after a considerable growth-spurt, began his journey to superstardom. He's donated millions to various community causes and charities and has pledged to put $100 million into the Black community.
Frederick Douglass
Born a slave in Maryland in 1818, Frederick Douglass taught himself how to read and write. At 15 years old, the National Parks Service says Douglass rebelled intensely against his captor, educated other slaves, and physically fought back against a "slave breaker." He escaped from slavery in 1838 with the help of a free black woman named Anna Murray, the NPS explains, eventually marrying her. He became a champion of the abolitionist movement, wrote an autobiography, embraced the women's rights movement, helped people in the Underground Railroad, and supported anti-slavery political parties, the NPS says. He even bought a printing press and ran his own newspaper.
Nina Simone
According to her website, Grammy Hall of Famer Nina Simone was an American singer songwriter, musical arranger, and civil rights activist. She referred to herself as a "rebel with a cause." Born to a poor family in 1933, she began playing piano around the age of three or four. She wrote many protest songs during the Civil Rights era and spoke at Civil Rights meetings.
Ruby Bridges
At the age of six, Ruby Bridges was the first African American student to integrate into an elementary school in the South, according to the National Women's History Museum. She and her mother were escorted to the school by federal marshals every day that year, the museum says. "She walked past crowds screaming vicious slurs at her. Undeterred, she later said she only became frightened when she saw a woman holding a black baby doll in a coffin." Some angry white parents withdrew their children from the school in protest of her attendance.
Maya Angelou
Maya Angelou penned the famous book, "I know Why the Caged Bird Sings," which was published in 1970. The National Women's History Museum says about her novel, "Her tale of personal strength amid childhood trauma and racism resonated with readers and was nominated for the National Book Award. Many schools sought to ban the book for its frank depiction of sexual abuse, but it is credited with helping other abuse survivors tell their stories." According to her website, Angelou has written 36 books, with more than 30 best-selling titles. Her poetry volume, "Just Give me a Drink of Water 'fore I Diiie," was nominated for a Pulitzer Prize. And according to her website, she was the first Black woman featured on United States quarters.
Langston Hughes
According to The Academy of American Poets, Langston Hughes — born in Missouri in 1901 — was a poet "particularly known for his insightful portrayals of Black life in America from the 1920s to the 1960s." The site calls his work "enormously important in shaping the artistic contributions of the Harlem Renaissance of the 1920s." In addition to potery, Hughes wrote eleven plays, books, and "countless prose."
In addition to the previous, the following Black leaders were also included in the project: Former First Lady Michelle Obama; Civil Rights leader and politician John Lewis; baseball hall-of-famer Jackie Robinson; actor and filmmaker Jordan Peele; astronaut Mae Jemison; visual artist Kehinde Wiley; congresswoman Shirley Chisholm; American tennis star Serena Williams; and portrait artist Amy Sherald.
