In celebration of Newport’s 225th anniversary, the city is producing a series of murals that will be placed along the floodwall on Dave Cowens Drive, with the first one beginning this week.
The series will include nine total murals depicting Newport’s rich history, and is a collaboration between the City of Newport, Southbank Partners, Northern Kentucky University Scripps Howard Center for Civic Engagement and the Newport History Museum at The Southgate Street School.
“The goal of the project is to connect students and the community through publicly informed mural designs that celebrate Newport’s history while lengthening the spectrum of arts and cultural heritage offerings available to the general public,” a press release from the City of Newport reads.
The first mural, “Education Empowers,” highlights Newport’s historic African American school, Southgate Street School, which was the only one in Campbell County and operated from the post Civil War period until 1955, when the city desegregated their schools after Brown vs. Board of Education.
The mural was designed by NKU graduate Gina Erardi, who recently earned a bachelor’s degree in Fine Art. According to the release, she learned about Newport’s Southgate Street School when former students visited one of her art classes and shared their experiences.
“When I actually met the former students of The Southgate Street School, I was so moved by their hopefulness and the dedication of their teachers, despite the many challenges they had to overcome,” Erardi said in the release. “I wanted to create a mural that celebrated the lives of the students and of the Black educators who helped shift our society in the right direction, though we still have work to do as a whole.”
Erardi worked with former Southgate Street School student Virinda Garland Doddy to design the mural. Doddy attended the last first grade class at the school, and her two brothers also attended.
The mural they collaborated on features a young student and teacher at a chalkboard, woven together by colorful waves that flow to portraits of college graduates.
“The City of Newport has done an outstanding job making sure we appreciate and learn the history of the Southgate Street School and all that it accomplished and stands for,” said Garland Doddy in the same release. “I am honored to be a part of this. The students who went to the school received a great education because the teachers instilled in us the desire to do well in school.”
Although the timing lines up appropriately with our current social climate, the murals have been a project in the works for several years. According to the release, former students of the Southgate Street School worked with the city to transform the school into the The Newport History Museum at The Southgate Street School to educate the community about its history.
“Majority funding for the project was provided through a $13,120 grant from the 410, a giving circle of the Horizon Community Funds. Southbank Partners applied for the 410 grant, drawn to the project because of its visibility as it will become part of Riverfront Commons, the nearly 12-mile urban walking and biking path Southbank is developing in Northern Kentucky’s river cities,” the press release reads.
According to the release, in addition to the inaugural mural, the project organizers are working to raise funds for murals that may depict the following eras in history:
- Prehistoric will depict the Age of Fishes through an ancient fish, a giant mollusk and a mastodon.
- Indigenous will be done in collaboration with the NKU Native American Student Association and depict mound builders and other Native American groups.
- 1800s will depict General James Taylor, the Newport Barracks and West End Newport’s working-class pride.
- 1860s will depict Civil War Abolitionists including abolitionist newspaper publisher William S. Bailey and abolitionists Ira and Sarah Root.
- 1895-1920s will depict suffrage and the fact that Newport was one of just three cities in Kentucky that registered Black women to vote.
- 1930s-’60s will depict Newport’s Sin City days, including Prohibition; Newport’s lush economy, culture, entertainment, music and nightlife; the creation of the Tommy Gun machine gun; and the community creating its own prosperity through the Great Depression.
- 1970s will depict local basketball legend Dave Cowens, a Newport Catholic Graduate who is one of the NBA’s greatest players and the namesake of Dave Cowens Drive
- 1980s-now will depict contemporary and future scenes that are yet to be determined.
If you’re interested in volunteering to help with the mural installation, the city will be holding a volunteer day on July 18. For more info about the project, visit stories.opengov.com/newportky.
This article appears in The Summer Guide.
