Canton City Schools conceals historical mural
CANTON – A black and red banner that reads “Champions are made … and success is tradition” now covers a historical mural at Mckinley High School’s downtown campus.
Canton City School District administrators concealed the northern portion of the 195-foot-long mural that encircles the school’s food court and meeting area in September after at least one community member raised concerns last school year about the section of the mural that depicts slavery.
The mural, titled “Highlights of American History” and illustrating U.S. history until 1943, shows a white man with a whip lunging toward a shirtless black man whose hands are bound to a pillar.
Superintendent Jeff Talbert said in a statement that the covering is a temporary remedy until the district can host a communitywide “true conversation” about whether the mural remains appropriate during current times.
“As the school year began, our leadership team determined that the highly charged climate around social injustice and the marginalization of certain groups within our school and city communities elevated the immediate need to cover up parts of the mural that have been deemed offensive and inappropriate,” wrote Talbert.
He said the conversation will take place after the district has resolved its issues related to teaching and learning during a global pandemic.
History of the mural
The art deco mural measures 3 feet 9 inches tall and extends 195 feet. It contains more than 350 figures who tell the history of America, starting with the 1490s when Christopher Columbus explains to King Ferdinand and Queen
Isabella about his hope of finding new routes to the East to the 1940s when America is awakening after the Depression and becomes involved in what would become World War II.
The mural originally hung on the walls of Timken High School’s secondfloor library, but was moved around 2005 when the space known commonly as the Timken Commons was built.
Timken High School student Frank Marchione spent two years painting the mural, dedicating it in 1943 when he was a senior at 21 years old. Marchione, who had emigrated from Italy in 1937 and completed 12 years of school in six years, would go on to design murals and stained glass windows for churches of all denominations throughout the world. He died in 2012 at age 90.
His son, David Marchione, believes that removing the mural his father painted because it shows the oppression of slavery would be a mistake. He said it would be akin to removing artwork that shows the crucifixion of Christ. “The reason (the crucifixion) is depicted so much is because it is the thing that shows the triumph of Christ above the cruelty of humanity,” the younger Marchione said.
He noted that an illustration of President Abraham Lincoln issuing the Emancipation Proclamation and pointing toward progress sits a few feet to the right of the slavery image.
“The idea that slavery is depicted and people are undergoing the suffering of slavery is an example of the triumph of the United States as a self-transforming society and the triumph of the African American people over the oppression of slavery,” he said.
By not acknowledging the horrors of slavery, people cannot truly understand the triumphs of civil rights activists such as Martin Luther King Jr., Marchione said.
Instead of hiding the depiction of slavery, Marchione believes educators should use it as a teaching tool. He said he would be willing to talk to the incoming students of the downtown campus every year about the history of the mural from the artist’s perspective.
“It’s a point of view of love and people, whether they want to hang a sheet over it or not, they should understand that point of view,” he said.
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