The University of North Florida’s Center for Urban Education and Policy (CUEP) is launching a large-scale public art mural project to supplement Civil Rights Movement curriculum and teach Jacksonville’s high school students about local historical events like Ax Handle Saturday and the 1960’s Sit-Ins.
This initiative, “Hope and History: Learning from Our Past to Lead into Our Future,” will be discussed with the public 5 to 6:30 p.m. Friday, April 6, during the Cultural Council of Greater Jacksonville’s Public Art Week event at The Eastside Brotherhood, 915 A. Philip Randolph Blvd.
The event will feature Dr. Rudy Jamison, CUEP community initiatives coordinator and UNF visiting assistant professor of educational leadership; Dr. Chris Janson, CUEP director and UNF associate professor of leadership, school counseling and sport management; Rodney L. Hurst Sr., local author and civil rights leader; Bruce Moye, Eastside Brotherhood president; as well as Roosevelt Watson III and Nicole Holderbaum, local artists. The high school students involved in the mural project will also speak about their experiences.
This project is part of a historically significant community-based learning curriculum that the CUEP developed to immerse students in understanding civil rights issues and meeting community leaders from a local perspective in order to foster a deeper understanding of historical, as well as modern, struggles against prejudice and oppression.
“Ax Handle Saturday is the quintessential public education and youth leadership development story where students fought for dignity and respect through sit-in demonstrations,” said Jamison. “Through this collaborative project, we hope to amplify a story of resistance in the spirit of hope, love, courage and agency.”
The high school students involved in the project are being guided by regional artists Roosevelt Watson III, Nicole Holderbaum and Suzanne Pickett as they conceptualize, prepare, design and implement their interpretations of regional events that occurred during the Movement into a large-sized mural that the students will paint on the side of the Brotherhood building.
For more information on the project, contact Dr. Rudy Jamison at (904) 386-8926.
The Center for Urban Education and Policy at UNF believes in empowering schools and communities by uniting strengths, inviting advocacy and inspiring innovation.
The Eastside Brotherhood is one of Jacksonville’s first African-American social clubs, founded by “OutEast” community members. As a central preserver of the historical Eastside, The Eastside Brotherhood is committed to a healthy, thriving community.
