Changemakers

Murals

Jan 11

6.5ft x 52.75ft, 2022

Acrylic paint on wall

Austin Municipal Courthouse, Austin, TX

Sepia mural depicting 5 social justice leaders

I painted Changemakers for the new City of Austin municipal court building, being one of five artists to tackle a courtroom wall with various themes. I was prompted with a list of significant figures in Austin’s social Justice history and additionally did my own research to determine who best to portray in this way.

FIGURES DEPICTED FROM LEFT TO RIGHT:

Virgil C. Lott was the first Black graduate of UT law school and the first Black judge to sit on the bench in Austin. He was also an attorney active in developing multi-family housing for low-income families.

Liz Carpenter graduated from the UT school of journalism and was the White House press secretary to Lady Bird Johnson. She was also a writer, feminist, reporter, media advisor, speechwriter, political humorist, and public relations expert.

Harriet Mitchell Murphy in 1973 became the first African-American woman appointed to a regular judgeship in Texas and served on the City of Austin municipal court for 20 years.

Gustavo C. Garcia, was a civil rights attorney from Laredo, a graduate of UT law school, and succeeded in arguing before the US supreme court to end the practice of systemic exclusion of Hispanics from jury service in Jackson County under the equal protection clause of the 14th amendment.

Ada Cecilia Collins Anderson graduated from Huston-Tillotson, dedicated her career to education, and became the first Black woman elected to the board of directors at ACC. She also started Austin’s first Black-owned real estate agency, and in 2014 gave $3mil to her alma mater HT, the largest private gift in the university’s history.

Heman Marion Sweatt was an African-American civil rights activist who confronted Jim Crow laws. He is best known for challenging the “separate but equal” doctrine as one of the earliest events leading to the desegregation of American higher education. He also worked for years with the NAACP and National Urban League.