Black Lives Matter Mural: A Memory of Black History

This is a photograph I took with my smartphone of a mural that I drove past. I was drawn to this artifact because I am interested in the Black Lives Matter Movement and this image makes a social, cultural, historical and political impact on society. This is a human-designed mural by artist Anita Easterwood and her father Rodney “Lucky” Easterwood, a Kansas City, Kansas muralist created in June, 2020. Both artists use the principles of visual rhetoric to persuade the audience to think of the positive messages and hope through the lens of a Black child in the midst of the difficult subject matter of racism and police brutality.

The design principles employed by the artists in the mural are typography, color, and symbols. The use of ethos, pathos, and logos reinforce their intent to create a sense of hope in the moment of pain. These elements explicitly speak to the historical context of racism in the Black community by offering a sense of hope through words and imagery. The image is a Black boy kneeling and drawing words on the ground in front of him. The typography are large words in vibrant colors that complete the phrases: I will inspire, I will breathe, I will learn, and I will grow. The artists purposefully left out the child's head so that anyone looking at the image could identify with his sense of joy and wonder. “Being able to relate to the art and place yourself in it is one of the keys to garnering an emotional response” and “there were several allusions made to other popular symbols in the Black Lives Matter movement,” such as the “boy kneeling was a nod to Colin Kaepernick, and the phrase, “I will breathe,” is the direct opposite of George Floyd’s last words, “I can’t breathe.” These elements strung together are a kaleidoscope of symbols that empower and connect communities” (Searles). 

The artists were successful in their intent to persuade the audience to see hope and positivity through the innocence of a Black boy. "Typography can change the meaning of the message” (Groves). The mural takes the hurtful last words of George Floyd and turns them into positive affirmations of a child. “Visual rhetoric starts with what we see coming into our eyes and ends with how we interpret and make meaning out of what we see. It’s what happens between the eye and the brain that’s most interesting” (Newbold). Lastly, visual rhetoric as perspective “refers to the theory that guides analysis of the symbolic and communicative aspects of visual data” and “offers a way to view images, to understand how they are suggesting meaning, and to identify the meaning” (Foss in Page and Duffy 54). Nature, form, and evaluation are aspects of visual images that help viewers analyze and understand the meaning of visuals. 

Works Cited 

Newbold, Curtis. “What is Visual Rhetoric?” The Visual Communication Guy, 13 Feb. 2014, https://thevisualcommunicationguy.com/2014/02/13/what-is-visual-rhetoric/. Accessed 24, Jan 2024. 

Page, Janis Teruggi, and Margaret Duffy. Visual Communication Insights and Strategies. 1st ed., Wiley-Blackwell, 2021. 

Searles, Celia. “Black Lives Matter Mural in KCK Brings Hope and Love to the Movement.” The Pitch, 25 Jun, 2020, https://www.thepitchkc.com/black-lives-matter-mural-in-kck brings-hope-and-love-to-the-movement/. Accessed 24, Jan 2024. 

“Visual Rhetoric: How Imagery Persuades.” You Tube, uploaded by Professor Graves,24 January 2023, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Inh0vrxMwYI.