Frances Ellen Watkins Harper Community Paint Day

Come out and roll up your sleeves for a Community Paint Day with Mural Arts on Saturday, October 18, at 2 PM! This hands-on experience will help paint artist Athena Scott’s new mural, Frances E. W. Harper: We Are All Bound Up Together. It’s a fun, family-friendly way to be part of creating public art that reflects our city. No experience needed, just come ready to paint!

Mural Arts and PSU’s Center for Black Digital Research/#DigBlk is creating this powerful and inspiring mural honoring the life and legacy of Frances Ellen Watkins Harper (1825–1911), poet, orator, abolitionist, suffragist, and one of the most influential Black women of the 19th century.

As part of PSU’s #Harper200, a year-long bicentennial celebration marking 200 years since Harper’s birth, this special event will unveil a new public mural by Philadelphia-based artist Athena Scott, located on the exterior wall of Greene Street Friends School. This vibrant artwork pays tribute to Harper’s lifelong fight for freedom, education, and justice, and reflects the spirit of community that continues to animate her legacy.