The mural was conceived by Ella Cope who took the idea to the Public Arts Commission of Oxford, which gave its support.
“Public art is something so essential to creating a welcoming community and creates a town atmosphere anywhere. It is time Oxford embraces public art. I’m glad the city chose to make the investment and decided to support this initial piece of public art,” Cope said. “It is reassuring to me to know even when the original spot for the mural was made inaccessible, the city is choosing to do the right thing and preserve public art. I hope this signals a dedication to having public art in our town.”
The city arts commission met to discuss the issue and look at ways to preserve the mural and keep it visible in the community.
In a letter written to the city by PACO chair Steven Sullivan last year, they emphasized the importance of preserving the work.
“Including this mural on the city building will both beautify the space and create a powerful statement about out city’s priorities by placing art, history and justice literally at the center of our municipal life. This is especially crucial at this moment in our nation’s history,” the letter stated.
The PACO letter noted the idea of the mural was brought to the commission October 4, 2018.
“(Then) Talawanda High School junior Ella Cope proposed to the Commission the creation of a mural about the Civil Rights History of Oxford as a Girl Scout Project that she would undertake before her graduation in 2020. The subject of the mural would be Oxford’s Civil Rights history including not only well-known events and personalities such as the Underground Railroad and 1964 Freedom Summer martyrs (Chaney, Goodman and Schwerner) but lesser-known events and people she was researching. Ms. Cope’s concept for the mural centered on the blue station wagon that the three young martyrs drove from Oxford to Mississippi after being trained at Western College,” Sulivan wrote in the letter.
It was also noted that Cope received approval from the Girl Scout Council to proceed with the project toward a Gold Award she was to receive in 2019 as well as a $1,000 grant from the W.E. Smith Family Charitable Trust to produce the mural.
She also negotiated with Kim Peterka, owner of the building at 119 West High Street, to place the mural on the west-facing side of the building. Installation was completed with the help of local contractor David DeWitt and dedicated in June of 2019 in a public ceremony.
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