School mural covered amid concerns about slavery depiction

CANTON, Ohio (AP) — Officials in an Ohio school district have placed a temporary cover over a historical mural at a high school after concerns were raised about its depiction of slavery.

A black and red banner reading “Champions are made … and success is tradition” now covers the mural at McKinley High School’s downtown campus in the Canton City Schools district, the Akron Beacon Journal reported.

Administrators decided in September to conceal the northern portion of the 195-foot-long mural that encircles the school’s food court and meeting area after at least one person voiced concerns during the last school year.

One section of the “Highlights of American History” mural, which illustrates U.S. history until the middle of World War II, 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 .

“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, who took over as superintendent in August.

The art deco mural dedicated in 1943 contains more than 350 historical figures, beginning with Christopher Columbus in the 1490s and extending to the United States emerging from the Depression and entering the Second World War.

The artist, Timken High School student Frank Marchione, who spent two years painting the mural, died in 2012 at age 90. His son, David Marchione, said removing the mural his father painted because it shows the oppression of slavery would be a mistake 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,” David Marchione said. He noted that an illustration to the right of the slavery image shows President Abraham Lincoln issuing the Emancipation Proclamation.

“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. He said rather than hiding the depiction of slavery, educators should use it as a teaching tool.