Exhibit honors history, inspires hope

Members of the SNCC Freedom Singers, from Augusta, Ga., stand with the Obama portrait in the “Icons of Civil Rights Movement” exhibit. The singers serenaded passers-by outside the United Methodist Building and visitors inside, where nearly 20 icons were on display in the building’s lobby through January. The exhibit moves to the Frederick Douglass Museum in Washington, D.C., during February. (Photo courtesy of Pamela Chatterton-Purdy)

Looking to the past and the future, Celeste Laurel found plenty of inspiration during her visit to the United Methodist Building, the home of the General Commission on Religion & Race and the General Board of Church & Society in the nation’s capital. She just wants to see it last.

Laurel, of Forestville, Md., came to Washington, D.C., with her 16-year-old daughter Jan. 19 to celebrate Martin Luther King Jr. Day and the historic inauguration of President Barack Obama that would take place the next day.

Walking past the United Methodist Building at 100 Maryland Ave., NE, which occupies a prime corner across from the U.S. Capitol and the Supreme Court Building, she heard harmonious voices singing African-American spirituals. A quartet of the Freedom Singers from Augusta, Ga., was on the steps serenading passers-by and beckoning them to enter and witness a surprise.

When Laurel and her daughter got inside they found both Martin Luther and Coretta Scott King, along with Rosa Parks, Medgar and Myrlie Evers, the Little Rock Nine and a host of other heroes, martyrs and milestones of America’s Civil Rights movement stretching back five decades. They were all depicted in stunning gilded portraits on display in the building’s lobby until Jan. 30.

Celeste Lauren (left) and her daughter pose with Pamela Chatterton-Purdy's newest icon portrait, President Barack Obama. (John Coleman photo)

“Icons of the Civil Rights Movement” is an extraordinary exhibit of nearly 20 framed paintings on gold-leaf canvases —resembling sacred art — created by Pamela Chatterton-Purdy. The Cape Cod, Mass., artist, a lifelong Methodist, felt moved by her own interracial encounters and experiences to chronicle this significant period in the life of her country.

Purdy’s first job in 1963 was as an art editor, and one of two white employees, at Ebony Magazine, the preeminent periodical of black life and culture, based in Chicago. There she met Dr. King and other black leaders; and she and her husband, David, now a retired United Methodist clergyman, joined in many civil rights protest marches. They later adopted black and Amerasian children into their multiracial family.

“I did [the portraits] from a very religious standpoint, in that I see the civil rights movement as God present in the Holy Spirit,” Purdy, 67, told United Methodist News Service. “The Holy Spirit moved ordinary people to do very extraordinary things. So many of these people gave their lives for freedom.”

Celeste Laurel was glad to see one recent addition to Purdy’s exhibit: President Barack Obama, whose highlighted portrait is framed by words from the Declaration of Independence and from his pivotal speech on race in America, given across from Independence Hall in Philadelphia last March.

“This is such an incredible display that honors the history of this movement right up to where we are today,” Laiurel said quietly, her eyes beaming. “This has stirred my consciousness of what we owe to our racial past and what we must do to ensure a better future. But we can’t become complacent.

“We who claim to be Christians must answer Obama’s call for volunteers who will not just talk about a new future but work to make it happen. My prayer is that this inspiration he has given us will not be short-lived.”

The “Icons of the Civil Rights Movement” exhibit has been displayed at several churches, museums, galleries, colleges and universities in New England, including the State House in Boston. It will be at the Frederick Douglass Museum in Washington D.C., in February, during Black History Month.

Editor’s note: John Coleman is Communications Director of the General Commission on Religion & Race (GCORR), which guides and supports United Methodists at all levels of the church in their quest to achieve racial justice, inclusiveness and reconciliation. This article is reprinted by permission.

For more about Black History Month, including suggestions for its observance, visit How to Celebrate Black History Month on the GCORR website.