Mural depictions of the 1839 Amistad slave revolt by Hale Woodruff will line the walls of Talladega College’s new 9,730-square-foot art museum upon the building’s completion next year.
Painted in 1939 for the college, the three-panel Amistad mural – along with two separate Woodruff murals – will be permanently installed in the William R. Harvey Museum of Art named for the long-serving president of Hampton University, who is a donor and 1961 graduate of the college.
The museum’s construction is part of a three-building project at the college that includes a new suite-styled residence hall and Talladega’s first-ever student center.
“I don’t know of any higher education institutions in the country that are building three buildings at the same time,” says Talladega president Dr. Billy C. Hawkins. “And more so, I don’t know of a [historically Black college or university] that’s building three brand new buildings on the campus at the same time. So we’ve just been really blessed, but it’s been a lot of hard work.”
The Amistad murals – valued at $50 million following a three-year national tour to multiple cities – document the enslaved Africans’ resilience and struggle for liberation and survival in the New World. Woodruff’s painting was gifted to the college to celebrate the 100-year anniversary of the event.
Woodruff’s additional mural panels from 1942 depict an Underground Railroad scene and the first day of registration at Swayne Hall, Talladega’s oldest campus building. These later paintings commemorated the college’s 75th anniversary.
Currently, the Amistad murals are being held in Atlanta at the High Museum of Art’s fine arts storage facility until the completion of Talladega’s art museum.
