| Black Lives Matter street mural | |
|---|---|
 The "Black Lives Matter" mural in St. Johns (July 23, 2020) | |
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| Location | Portland, Oregon, United States |
| 45°35′11.2″N122°45′18.9″W / 45.586444°N 122.755250°W | |
| Website | edisonstreetmural |
On June 18, 2020, Nick Lloyd painted the phrase "Black Lives Matter" in large bright yellow block letters on North Edison Street in Portland, Oregon's St. Johns neighborhood.
Inspired by Washington, D.C.'s Black Lives Matter Plaza, the 336-foot (102 m) mural spanned an entire block, [1] and had "detailed historic facts about the treatment of minorities in Portland" written in smaller text within individual letters. [2] The following text appeared within the letter "B":
1800 – The Cowlitz people live nearby when the first Black visitor arrives in 1802. His name is York. He's on the Lewis and Clark expedition, and he's enslaved – William Clark has owned him since birth. These roads 1st appear on a map in 1865 – While Oregon has an annual tax on every nonwhite resident. Those who can't pay are forced to work for the state. [1]
Written on the letter "A" was "1923 — This neighborhood is 100% White. Over 9,000 belong to the KKK. The state bans Japanese and Chinese immigrants from owning property". A statement about when voters changed the Constitution of Oregon to eliminate the original ban on Black residents (2001) was written on one of the "T" letters, and another letter displayed the text "In 1988, PDX banks make only 9 mortgage loans in the district from Irvington to Woodlawn." [2]
Lloyd did not seek permission to paint the mural, and city officials did not plan to remove the artwork, as of June 25. [1] He said of his work:
We are all a part of history you can find your birth date somewhere between these letters and see that the story continues... I think we all make history, whether we mean to or not. All of us are part of the story of the rest of us. By relating the events of this area and this region to this very bit of ground, it highlights how much each of us has a choice in what we be a part of. We are all a part of a longer story. It started before us, it will continue after us and we only can control the portion that's in front of us. [1]
16th Street Northwest, briefly known as the Avenue of the Presidents, is a prominent north-south boulevard in Washington, D.C., located in Northwest D.C. The street was laid out as part of the 1791 L'Enfant Plan, which served as the original blueprint for the city. The street begins just north of the White House, across from Lafayette Square in the President's Park, and continues north along the Washington meridian until Blair Circle.
Women Making History in Portland, sometimes abbreviated as Women Making History, is a 2007 mural by Robin Corbo, located in north Portland, Oregon, in the United States.
The Packy mural was a public artwork depicting the elephant of the same name, painted on the Skidmore Fountain Building in Portland, Oregon's Old Town Chinatown neighborhood. The artwork was designed by Eric Larsen and painted in 1990 by North Pacific Sign and Design, but was destroyed during the building's 2008 renovation to become the new headquarters for Mercy Corps.
Black Lives Matter Plaza is a two-block-long pedestrian section of 16th Street NW in downtown Washington, D.C. The plaza was renamed by Mayor Muriel Bowser on June 5, 2020, after the Department of Public Works painted the words "Black Lives Matter" in yellow, 35-foot-tall (11 m) capital letters, along with the D.C. flag, during the series of George Floyd protests taking place in the city.
The Black Lives Matter movement has been depicted and documented in various artistic forms and mediums including film, song, television, and the visual arts. In some instances this has taken place in the form of protest art. These cultural representations have also grown organically among artists who seek to partake in activist efforts in support or in recognition of the Black Lives Matter movement. The themes conveyed in these artistic works address the history of racism and injustice toward people of color in the United States and typically express sentiments of anger and fear as well as solace and hope.
Many artworks related to the Black Lives Matter movement were created in Portland, Oregon, United States, during local protests over the murder of George Floyd and other Black Americans. Oregon Arts Watch contextualized the artistic works, stating that a "whitewashed pre-COVID lens" on American life, which obscured systemic racism, had been "cracked", and describing artists' response to racial violence being brought into the public eye was a "marathon, not a sprint".
Many artworks related to the Black Lives Matter movement have been created. These works are either seen as a direct tribute to those who have died or more broadly to the movement. Often the pieces are created in the streets as to be more publicly visible. As such several attempts have been made at preserving the art created in protest on the basis of their artistic merit and cultural significance. Increasingly, the erasure of the artwork has been a problem for preservationists. As such, the artworks below represent a fraction of the works created.
New York City has been the site of many Black Lives Matter protests in response to incidents of police brutality and racially motivated violence against black people. The Black Lives Matter movement began as a hashtag after the shooting death of African-American teen Trayvon Martin, and became nationally recognized for street demonstrations following the 2014 deaths of two African Americans, Michael Brown and Eric Garner. Garner was killed in the Staten Island borough of New York City, leading to protests, demonstrations, and work towards changes in policing and the law. Following the murder of George Floyd in Minnesota in 2020, the global response included extensive protests in New York City, and several subsequent changes to policy.
A 4 foot bust of York, the only African American on the Lewis and Clark Expedition, was installed in Portland, Oregon's Mount Tabor Park, in the United States, from February to July 2021. The artist stayed anonymous at first, but after the bust was removed he revealed himself as Todd McGrain. McGrain was a student of Darrell Millner, Portland State University professor of history and Black Studies. The bust appeared on February 20, replacing the statue of Harvey W. Scott, which had been toppled on October 20, 2020. McGrain did not seek city permission to install the bust, which McGrain expected to be temporary; on June 11 the city announced that it would remove the bust.
The Black Lives Matter street muralin Indianapolis is a large, colorful mural reading "#BLACKLIVESMATTER", with a raised fist, that 18 artists painted across a downtown roadway in August 2020, as part of the George Floyd protests. The mural is located on Indiana Avenue, the historic hub of the city's Black culture, on the same corner as the Madam C. J. Walker Building.
In August 2020, eight artists painted a Black Lives Matter street mural in Salt Lake City's Washington Square Park, outside the Salt Lake City and County Building, in the U.S. state of Utah. The city had commissioned the painting with a contest "to support and memorialize the national movement to eliminate systemic racism".
We Stand With You is a 2020 mural of Ahmaud Arbery, George Floyd, and Breonna Taylor by artist Christian Grijalva, installed in Portland, Oregon.
A mural of George Floyd was painted by Emma Berger outside Portland, Oregon's Apple Pioneer Place, on June 1, 2020, a week after his murder, against the background of the ongoing protests against police brutality. She expanded the mural to show Ahmaud Arbery and Breonna Taylor and phrases associated with the Black Lives Matter movement. The work was vandalized in August, and repaired by the artist. It was covered by Apple Inc. in December for preservation, then removed in January 2021 to be donated to Don't Shoot PDX.
A "Black Lives Matter" street mural has been painted in Santa Cruz, California.
Many artworks related to the Black Lives Matter movement were created in New York City, during local protests over the murder of George Floyd and other Black Americans.
A "Black Lives Matter" street mural has been painted in Springfield, Massachusetts.
A "Black Lives Matter" street mural was painted in Seattle, in the U.S. state of Washington in June 2020. Maintained by the Seattle Department of Transportation, the artwork has survived longer than many Black Lives Matter street murals across the United States.
Everybody Eats PDX was a soul food restaurant in Portland, Oregon. The business closed in 2022.
George Floyd was an African American man who was murdered by a Minneapolis police officer on May 25, 2020. He was memorialized via events, protests, artwork installations, organizations, official designations, and campaigns.
Media related to Black Lives Matter street mural (Portland, Oregon) at Wikimedia Commons
