Public invited to celebrate new artwork at Southwest Madison Employment Center

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An NAACP flyer campaigning for the Dyer Anti-Lynching Bill, which passed the U.S. House of Representatives in 1922, but was filibustered to defeat in the Senate. Dyer, the NAACP, and freedom fighters around the country, like Flossie Baily, struggled for years to get the Dyer and other anti-lynching bills passed, to no avail. Today there is still no U.S. law specifically against lynching. In 2005, eighty of the 100 U.S. Senators voted for a resolution to apologize to victims' families and the country for their failure to outlaw lynching. Courtesy of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP).

Some Exhibits to Come – One Hundred Years of Jim Crow

Bibliography – One Hundred Years Of Jim Crow

Claude, age 23, just months before his 1930 murder. Courtesy of Faith Deeter.

Freedom’s Heroes During Jim Crow: Flossie Bailey and the Deeters

Souvenir Portrait of the Lynching of Abram Smith and Thomas Shipp, August 7, 1930, by studio photographer Lawrence Beitler. Courtesy of the Indiana Hisorical Society.

An Iconic Lynching in the North

Claxton Dekle – Prosperous Farmer, Husband & Father of Two

Ancient manuscripts about mathematics and astronomy from Timbuktu, Mali

Some Exhibits to Come – African Peoples Before Captivity

Shackles for Adults & Children from the Henrietta Marie

Some Exhibits to Come – The Middle Passage

What I Saw Aboard a Slave Ship in 1829

Life After Hate: A Former White Power Leader Redeems Himself

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June 12, 2024

New artwork depicting scenes from the Civil Rights Era, by an artist known as, “The Artist”, was recently installed on the grounds of the Southwest Madison Employment Center at 1233 McKenna Blvd.

[…]

Ruben Anthony, Jr., President & CEO of the Urban League of Greater Madison stated, “The Urban League is honored that The Artist has chosen to gift this powerful work of art to the Southwest Madison Employment Center. We believe it will serve as a reminder to the community of how far we have come, and how much work remains to be done in the fight for economic justice.”

Alder McKinney expressed appreciation for the artwork and the important history the work references, saying, “I am happy to have new artwork, particularly these powerful images, installed on Madison’s Southwest side.”

“It is fitting that the Artist’s series depicting scenes from the Civil Rights era was placed in proximity to the employment center,” MAC Chairperson Nick Pjevach said. “May it serve as a reminder that fair wages and safe working conditions are an essential right.”

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Check out our exhibit about civil rights.

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