The Colored Conventions: A Buried History (East)

The Colored Conventions: A Buried History is a series if two murals by Ernel Martinez, situated at 315 and 351 Washington Avenue in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The Colored Conventions Project has partnered with Mural Arts Philadelphia to memorialize the Colored Conventions Movement and its attendees.

Starting in 1830 and continuing until well after the Civil War, free, freed, and self-emancipated Blacks gathered in state and national political conventions. A cornerstone of Black organizing in the nineteenth century, these “Colored Conventions” brought Black men and women together in a decades-long campaign for civil and human rights. The first “Colored Convention” was in Philadelphia.

The panel at 315 Washington Avenue commemorates Black political organizing and protests since the convention movement ended in 1900. This wall includes iconic moments from the Civil Rights Movement: the March to Selma from the Edmund Pettus Bridge in Montgomery, the 1963 March on Washington to #Black Lives Matter protests for Breonna Taylor, George Floyd and Walter Wallace — a young man who was killed in Philadelphia. At the center of this 21st century panel is Kendra Van de Water who co-founded with James Aye the Philadelphia-based youth activist group YEAH Philly. YEAH Philly focuses on elevating the experiences of young Black people pushing back against oppressive systems through economic opportunities, conflict resolution, peer mediation, and community investment.

Learn more about the Colored Conventions project at: https://coloredconventions.org