Black Lives Matter street painting
The Black Lives Matter street painting is a 34-foot tall by 380-foot long painted installation on 1st Avenue South between 16th and 17th Streets reading "Black Lives Matter". It was completed on June 19 (Juneteenth), 2020 during the 2020 George Floyd protests.
The painting was inspired by a similar large-scale installation on two blocks of 16th Street, renamed "Black Lives Matter Plaza", near the White House in Washington DC. That project was commissioned on June 5 by DC mayor Muriel Bowser, shortly after federal officials cleared Lafayette Square and nearby streets of protesters on orders from the President. Other cities have also followed Washington's example.
Mayor Randall Woodfin's office approved the project which was separately suggested by Black Lives Matter Birmingham Chapter official Cara McClure and mural painter Shawn Fitzwater. It was approved by the Alabama Department of Transportation and executed with labor from the Birmingham Department of Transportation.
References
- Willingham, A. J. (June 5, 2020) "Washington, DC paints a giant 'Black Lives Matter' message on the road to the White House." CNN
- Gray, Jeremy (June 16, 2020) "Birmingham Black Lives Matter street painting closing part of 1st Avenue South." The Birmingham News
- Beahm, Anna (June 17, 2020) "Black Lives Matter: Birmingham activists, volunteers make their mark." The Birmingham News
- "The Artist and Activist Behind Birmingham’s Black Lives Matter Street Mural." (June 18, 2020) The Birmingham Times