Bolton high school mural is reborn

[MORTARDUDE]

Common sense has prevailed ! Thank God !!

Larry

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> http://www.gomemphis.com/mca/local_n...200559,00.html

Bolton's mural is reborn
County board vote brushes aside hue

By Wayne Risher
risher@gomemphis.com
August 22, 2003

The Shelby County school board voted quickly and unanimously Thursday to restore Bolton High School's controversial mural.

That was fine with art teacher Christy Burns, whose original mural was painted over to avoid offending some teachers and students.

"I am pleased that it will be reinstated as it was originally created," Burns said.

The board brushed aside criticism that the gray-hued painting of school namesake Wade Bolton - a 19th Century planter and slave trader - was "too Confederate" and perhaps racially insensitive.

Burns said she hopes nobody asks her to change Bolton's figure from gray to blue - one change that was suggested before a faculty committee decided to blot out the mural completely.

"As far as painting him blue, I thought he was going to look like a Smurf," Burns said.

Board member Ron Lollar said the mural will be accompanied by a bronze plaque outlining Bolton's history.

Private fund-raising will pay for the mural and plaque.

Burns, 33, painted the mural after Bolton's Class of 2003 gave her a $1,600 commission to depict the school's 127-year history.

The school began as Bolton College with a bequest from Bolton, who was gunned down by a rival in 1869.

It has been a county high school since 1925 and money from a family trust fund provides student scholarships.

The northeast Shelby County school serves students from unincorporated areas near the school and parts of Bartlett and Arlington.

There was little discussion among board members beyond Lollar and chairman David Pickler saying they saw nothing offensive in the mural.

Pickler noted that the Bolton College trust is chaired by Walter Bailey, the Shelby County Commission chairman who is African-American.

Bailey said he could see why some would be offended but trust officials are concerned solely with managing the trust, which oversees 1,200 acres of land.

"Do I countenance racially segregated historical symbols? The answer is no," Bailey said. "A case in point: I'm opposed to the city continuing to promote and showcase the statue of Nathan Bedford Forrest and Jefferson Davis in our city parks."

Julian Bolton, a black county commissioner who chaired the trust in the 1990s, called the mural "old-timey looking."

"It's just an old Southern farmer. It doesn't remind me of the Confederacy. I don't have any special warmth for what he stood for but he did leave his community a great financial legacy," he said.

The controversy began after several teachers voiced concerns about the mural.

Melissa Owen, a member of the faculty committee, said the concerns were about the images in total.

"Offended may be too strong a word," she said. "It was more concern over the image presented."

Burns said she doesn't know how soon she'll repaint the mural.

She just began her first full year of teaching after years of painting murals, studying art, selling real estate and other pursuits.

She was heartened to hear from current and former art students, black and white.

"They expressed no opposition to it, took no offense in the image that was displayed and I'm glad that the wishes of this class in leaving an esthetic legacy are being honored," Burns said

[Jerry D]

Larry Thanks for posting this article. Another case of PC going crazy. If I was a member of the class of 2003 that paid for the Mural I think a class action lawsuit on behalf of all the students would be appropriate . Also those who ever went to Bolton and received an education and tuition assistance for college should be rightfully offended. The School Board and a cowardly school teacher who was offended by something appearing confederate should all be fired for hypocrisy.

[MORTARDUDE]

I suspect the situation at this school is unique. Where else do you have a slave-trader who died right after the civil-war ( 1869 ) and who left a large sum of money that is still being used by a high-school some 150 years later and whose trust fund is administered by an African-American and which directly helps those African-American students whose ancestors he could have well sold into slavery ? No one seems to see that. No all they want to see is racism and hate every where...

Larry