Black History Showcased Through Philadelphia Mural Tour
PHILADELPHIA (CBS) - The Philadelphia Mural Arts Program is launching an African-American mural tour later this month.
One mural on the new tour honors the Philadelphia Stars, which was the city's Negro League baseball team.
Artist David McShane says that with his great interest in baseball, he was honored to paint the mural, which dominates the corner of Belmont and Parkside Avenue in West Philadelphia.
He said he spent a lot of time researching the history of the team including member Jackie Robinson, whose mural McShane painted on North Broad Street.
Both are part of the new "Albert M. Greenfield African-American Iconic Images Mural Collection."
"It's kind of a great way of connecting the dots. We have thousands of murals in the city," McShane said.
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Also part of the tour is "The Legacy" (right), which dominates a west-facing wall at 707 Chestnut Street with its stark images of slavery and its legacy.
Artist Eric Okdeh works with the artists in prison and says many of them have worked to beautify own neighborhoods as a way of giving back.
"The good thing about doing murals is that the life of the mural starts when you're done painting it. The community you're working in sort of they take it on and it's theirs," Okdeh said.
The first public tours of the new mural collection will be held Saturday, February 26th. You can sign up at muralarts.org.
Reported by Karin Phillips, KYW Newsradio
