If you have driven down Route 8/Dave Cowans Drive in Newport, chances are you’ve noticed the new Newport mural along the flood wall near the I-471 northbound ramp. The murals will commemorate Newports 225th anniversary.
This mural is the first in a series that depicts and honors the students and teachers of The Southgate Street School, an historic African American school – the only one in Campbell County – that operated from the post-Civil War era until 1955 when Brown vs Board of Education was decided and Newport Desegregated their schools.
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.
The lead artist on the inaugural Education Empowers mural is Gina Erardi, who recently graduated from Northern Kentucky University with a bachelor’s degree in Fine Art in Painting. She became inspired by the story of The Southgate Street School when two former students of the school told their stories to one of her college arts classes.
Funds are being raised to commission eight more murals to celebrate Newport’s diverse past that may depict:
• 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 along with the 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.
See the NKyTribune’s story about the historic murals here.
