Artists
The Park Street Mural was a collaborative process, with Angela Rivers at the head making important administrative and design decisions. She was supported by many individuals, such as Bennie Drake, who voluntarily gave their time throughout the Summer, Fall, and Spring of 1978 to achieve the successful completion of the mural.
The idea of the mural was born in 1977, when Chicago-based artist Mark Rovignon visited Champaign-Urbana and met with many local African-American artists at Oasis Graphic Arts (located at the corner of University and Fifth) to discuss his work and hold a workshop on mural creation. Yet, the group of individuals interested in a mural had yet to find funding or an artist. Concerns of the mural becoming too political lead the group away from some of the more out-spoken artists of the time, and lead them to Angela Rivers, who had an idea of the mural rooting local African-Americans in their long historical odyssey, locally, nationally and internationally.
With Angela Rivers' vision and funding from the Comprehensive Employment Training Act (CETA), a make-work program out of the federal government, the mural group was able to hire local high school youth to wok on the mural throughout the Summer of 1978. But before the Summer began artists were meeting to discuss with Angela her ideas and to make suggestions – leading to a communal product. For example, in the original design Angela only had one West African image depicting life before slavery. But some of the community people she talked to thought the history should go back further, leading her to add images from Egyptian life into her mural design.
In this artists' section we feature three voices of individuals who worked on the mural in various capacities in 1978. Many more voices can and should be added to this oral memory of the Park Street Mural. Individuals who helped take part who would like to have their voices included should e-mail Noah Lenstra at nlenstr2@illinois.edu or visit the eBlackChampaign-Urbana comments form: eblackcu.net/portal/contact.
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This project created summer 2010 by EBlack Champaign Urbana Interns 