Capital Canvas: One Nation, A Diversity Article Series

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Photography by Stephen Buchanan and courtesy Comacell Brown

Large-scale artistic murals on city buildings and historic endeavors showcase Annapolis’ and the State’s diverse past, and embolden a more equitable vision for the future

For much of the 55 years that Colonial Annapolis has been designated a historic landmark, the city was not known for highlighting the historical contributions of persons of color through its art or historical buildings except for the city’s role as a slave trading hub. 

In recent years, across the country, the removal of art or the placement of new art has become a vehicle to fill in gaps in the history that has traditionally been told and to enlighten and educate the public about the contributions of people of color. Murals have become a popular storytelling mode that have boosted the growing acceptance of the nation’s rich, cultural diversity, building bridges between culture, art, and history. 

“The murals are a form of art where the artist has direct contact with the community,” suggests Roberta Pardo, founder of Urban Walls Brazil which imported street artists from around the world to lead the painting of some of the city’s initial murals and to teach workshops for children since 2014. “Everyone can watch the process. It is beautifying the city and it is important to educate people about different cultures and diversity.”

Annapolis is emblematic of the movement to tell more stories about the accomplishments, roles, lives, and contributions of persons of color in the state. While government officials have been a part of the effort, it is local artists taking the lead and transforming the city’s historical landscape through multiple colorful murals both in the Historic District and in the city. 

“Annapolis is making a really big push with spreading unity and everyone getting on the same page, and doing that, takes respecting your history,” says Comacell Brown, an Annapolis artist who has painted some murals of historically-significant events and Black leaders around the city. Brown is also a member of the Art in Public Places Commission that, through a majority vote, decides which public mural proposals and artistic projects will be allowed to move forward in Annapolis.

In Annapolis, the strides toward more historical inclusivity are developing on two fronts; one governmental and one led by artists. The artists like Pardo, Brown, and others—eager to dedicate more art to historical persons of color—have painted more than 40 murals since 2014 on many building facades and other spaces, many with a nod to the importance of the Black community to Annapolis. 

“It’s definitely a thoughtful approach to represent the history of the Black community,” says John J. Tower, Annapolis’ assistant chief of historic preservation. “It’s long overdue. The administration [of Annapolis Mayor Gavin Buckley] considers it a priority.”

Enriching History

On the government front, city officials are restoring buildings important to the city’s Black community. Tower says the city is restoring the Universal Lodge #14, an African-American Masonic Lodge located at 64 Clay Street, and the Maynard-Burgess House at 163 Duke of Gloucester Street. The two buildings expand on the history of the Black community in Annapolis. The Maynard-Burgess house was owned by two successive African American families from 1847 to 1990, starting with John Maynard, a free Black man in Maryland. 

“We recognize the state’s art collection (in government buildings) has real gaps in who it represents and that it is white male focused,” says Elaine Rice Bachmann, the deputy State archivist and Secretary of the State House Trust which oversees its works of art. She adds that her office has not only been working on including more art honoring the accomplishments and biographies of people of color not known to the public, but also commissioning artworks by diverse artists.

Also, state legislators commissioned bronze statues for the Maryland House of Delegates in February 2020 of abolitionist Frederick Douglass and Harriett Tubman, a slave in Maryland who led other slaves to freedom as a “conductor” of the Underground Railroad. Lawmakers also hung a portrait of former Maryland state senator Verda Welcome, making hers the first portrait of a Black person to be displayed in the state Senate. Residents didn’t just push for more memorials of persons of color to address errors of historical omission, they also sought to remove statues commemorating divisive figures like that of Roger B. Taney, the fifth Chief Justice of the Supreme Court. Taney was the author of the 1857 Dred Scott decision, which denied citizenship to African Americans and upheld slavery.

“People come into public buildings and they wonder how they fit in and where’s their story,” says Susan Seifried, vice president of public relations and communications at Visit Annapolis & Anne Arundel County. “We have a responsibility to tell a fuller picture. We want to tell a fuller and complete history of the destination.”

Painting Our Stories

While the steps toward historical inclusivity at the government level are welcome, it is the murals, created organically and largely from a grassroots effort, that seem to be generating excitement. The murals have become an indelible part of Annapolis’ landscape, telling the stories of the historic Star Theatre (on Northwest Street) and of Carr’s Beach (designed by Brown and found at the MC3 complex), two important sites where Black Annapolitans throughout a large part of the 1900s were allowed to relax, have fun, and enjoy performances by famous Black artists, or highlighting the roles of important Black leaders like the late Supreme Court Justice Thurgood Marshall (painted by Future History Now, founded by artists Jeff Huntington and Julia Gibb) and the late U.S. Rep John Lewis (D-Ga.), a passionate civil rights advocate.

One student who helped paint the Carr’s Beach mural, Imran Okedeyi, told Chesapeake Bay Magazine in an interview. “Anybody can drive by and look at the art. I know I do that. It makes me feel good.” The Carr’s Beach mural is a vibrant, colorful mural highlighting some of the key people, like performer James Brown, patrolman George Phelps Jr., and the showgirls who helped make Carr’s Beach a success. It also features images of the Chesapeake Bay Bridge, a Ferris wheel, and water tower which once could be found at Carr’s Beach, and a long expanse

of beach with swimmers frolicking in the water.

Annapolis also made national news when a mural designed, organized, and produced by Future History Now covering a basketball court in Chambers Park was painted of the late Breonna Taylor, a 26-year-old African American woman fatally shot in her Louisville, Kentucky, apartment by police. Her death was one of several killings by police that led to many civil rights protests throughout the U.S. The project brought together 10 FHN Teaching Artists, 30 volunteers, and 30 youth to participate in the painting of the mural. Taylor’s family visited Annapolis for its dedication ceremony.

Additional murals can be found in the Historic District and all over the city and they are drawing international interest and tourism to the state capital, which has more intact 18th Century buildings than any other city in the country, says Seifried.

“We’ve got really talented local artists,” Seifried says, adding that she loves the muralists’ nods to “regular people who made a difference” in Annapolis like Carlester Smith (a beloved Annapolitan who could be seen daily walking down West Street and whose mural designed by Brown can be found at Pinky’s West Street Liquors.) “Obviously, the artists feel there is a story to be told and they are using artwork to tell it. How wonderful it is that we can reap the benefits of their efforts.”

Brown, who graduated with a graphics design degree from the Art Institute of Atlanta, says he has evolved as an artist, initially contributing some work on area murals and later taking the lead on the murals of Carlester Smith and of Carr’s Beach. He called Smith a “ray of light that shines bright in the heart of many Annapolitans of all races.” His mural, titled “The Walking Man” captures Smith’s image in a colorful mural highlighting Annapolis’ landscape next to him. Smith is holding a trash bag as he was known to clean and pick up trash as he walked through Annapolis.

“(Smith) always gave the sense of being happy and he helped keep up Annapolis by cleaning around many of the city’s businesses for free,” Brown says. “I’ve developed a passion to paint the world and see up close and personal the positive impact art has on people. I want to spread the love around.” 

Brown credits “Mural Mayor,” Annapolis Mayor Gavin Buckley, a huge proponent of the murals, “for his vision of a brighter and colorful future” for Annapolis and Maryland Hall for programming that pushed for more diversity in the arts in the community. 

Before becoming mayor, Buckley, as owner of Tsunami restaurant, fought and won a court case against the city’s Historic Preservation Commission over the mural, “Agony and Ecstasy Live Together in Perfect Harmony” also painted by Huntington.

“One of the things I most enjoy about public art is that it is not held in private collections behind closed doors,” Buckley says. “It is out in the world for everyone to enjoy.”

Consent to Create

Since 2001, artists have turned to the Art in Public Places Commission (AIPPC) for permission to produce art on city property or for monetary funding. AIPPC has a digital map of the city’s murals and the link can be found at: annapolis.gov/DocumentCenter/View/10423/Murals.

“AIPPC recognizes art as an economic asset to the city of Annapolis,” says Genevieve Torri, AIPPC’s chair, adding that government policies promoting art and culture draw economic development to a city, increase jobs and tax revenues, and boost tourism. “Arts and culture are consistent sources of economic growth during both good and difficult times. It is our mission to enhance the public art environment of the city and to encourage national recognition of Annapolis as one of the nation’s top cities for the arts.”

If artists want approval for a mural in the Historic District they must win approval from the eight-member Historic Preservation Commission, says Tower, who, as a city employee, assists the commission in its work. The commission releases a newspaper notice about their public hearings so the public can weigh in on art proposals. 

“(Murals) are a feature changing entity,” Tower says. “When it goes on a building, it changes the way the building is perceived.”

Tower says a 150-year-old building that has never been painted would not be a good candidate for a mural because it would change the materials or walls to painted ones where paint wasn’t there before. 

“It’s better to choose a canvas that is not historically significant and that has been painted before,” Tower explains. “The commission is looking at how the mural painting alters the building, how it works into the historic district, and that it doesn’t change the streetscape.”

Tower says the commission doesn’t evaluate as much on the content of the murals because “that is treated as a First Amendment Right.”

But, Tower and Rice Bachmann are huge supporters of the artists, particularly when the projects engage and become educational for the children of Annapolis.

“It’s an enrichment of the historic district to express the nation’s and local history and involve children,” Tower says. “(The artists) are passionate about the murals and committed to involving children, not just artistically, but also from an instructional standpoint. That’s quite significant. It’s a win for everyone.” 

Rice Bachmann, the state’s archivist, called the murals a “welcome addition to the historic landscape of the city,” adding that “statues are not the only way to honor a person.” She says the growth in the numbers of murals honoring Black history “reflect a greater awareness of the systemic racism in our country.”  

Pardo, who was a one-woman show in securing funds to bring artists from around the world to the city’s public high schools and to paint some of Annapolis’ early murals, says some critics denigrate the murals, calling them graffiti, but graffiti is usually not done legally and often just tags or writes over the others’ works of art. Street art is now an acknowledged art form that transforms urban spaces worldwide, she says.

“Murals help kids to respect art,” says Pardo, who served for six years on the Arts Council of Anne Arundel County. “The messages on the murals often give voices to the voiceless.”

Monuments Project

In recent years, protestors took down several monuments commemorating racism and slavery or government officials, pressured by constituents, ordered them removed in what seemed like a national reckoning over the toxic aspects of U.S. history. In 2020, the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, one of the largest supporters of the arts and humanities, launched its $250 million Monuments Project, an effort to teach history in public that is accurate, inclusive, and inspiring and transform commemorative spaces so they celebrate the country’s diverse history through the funding of new monuments and removing or recontextualizing of existing ones.

“Our commemorative landscape is wildly lopsided when it comes to which stories are told and which values are exalted,” says Elizabeth Alexander, President of the Mellon Foundation. “Future generations ought to inherit an inclusive commemorative landscape that elevates the visionary contributions and remarkable experiences of the many different communities that make up the United States.” 

An important element of the grant is an audit of the existing landscape of monuments and memorials across the United States. The Philadelphia-based public art and research group, the Monument Lab, is conducting the audit using records from state and local agencies and other sources like the Southern Poverty Law Center to find out information such as who sponsored the monument originally and who subsidizes its upkeep. The audit will create ten new Monument Lab field offices that will re-imagine monuments across the country.

“Instead of investing too much in conflicts over demolition—which often get a lot of attention—we want to bring people together to envision the next generation of monuments in a way that feels more inclusive and hopeful,” says Paul Farber, the Monument Lab’s director,  

Alexander says the project had been at least five years in the making, but the need for it was sharpened when a white supremacist killed a young woman when white supremacists gathered in 2017 in Charlottesville to fight the removal of a memorial to Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee. But while the Black Lives Matter protests of last year, which led to prominent Confederate memorials being removed across the country, helped focus public attention on the subject, the Monuments Project isn’t limited to addressing debates over memorials to the Confederacy.

“This is not a Confederate monuments project; it is a monuments project,” says Alexander. “That means addressing the larger issue of what values and ideas about identity are embedded in this country’s public architecture of history and memory. What is preserved, what is forgotten, and what is suppressed?”