15 August 2020, across from the Bedford Post Office
21 August 2020, some of the faces are appearing
Stina Aleah, Davon Brantley, and Christa Childs are painting a mural, "the Road to Freedom". Harriet Tubman, Frederick Douglass, and Julius Caesar Tibbs are portrayed. Tibbs was a resident of Bedford, all were escaped slaves. The organisation Graffiti HeArt commissioned this project.
21 August 2020, some of the faces are appearing
24 August 2020, Frederick Douglass shows up, and paper falls from window
30 August 2020
This is a great mural. It blends local history with national history. I was schooled in the north, and our history books and classes covered Douglass, Tubman, and Sojourner Truth; and it was understood slavery was a bad thing thoroughly. There was no talk of southern heritage and pride. The schools have been re-politicised throughout the country, i don't know who gets taught what. This revisionist narrative began under Reagan, who was interested in his story and not facts. Reagan destroyed the Fairness Doctrine 1949 for broadcasting license holders in 1987, which gave way to mouthfoamers on radio (Rush Limbaugh, who Trump has given a Presidential Medal of Freedom), and the anything but "fair and balanced" Fox News Corp., and other lying propagandists. At this time, also, Newt Gingrich sewed absolute division in national politics that has continued unabated. His Republican propaganda partner, Frank Luntz, is still doing that campaign. The current climate is exacerbated, in the extreme, by the Orange Caligula who occupies the presidency. So, this paean to history is a very political work in this poisoned atmosphere. Certainly, there are people who will resent, and hate this work. It should be no surprise if this painting is vandalised.
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