society
Structures, Identity, and the Making of Everyday Life
Street Art as Public Record: The George Floyd and Anti-Racist Street Art Archive
The African American Folklorist recently spoke with Dr. David Todd Lawrence and Dr. Heather Shirey, co-directors of Urban Art Mapping, about their work documenting street art created in response to the murder of George Floyd and the anti-racist protests that followed.
Dr. David Todd Lawrence is Associate Professor of English at the University of St. Thomas in Minnesota. Dr. Heather Shirey is Chair of the Department of Art History at the University of St. Thomas. Together, they co-direct Urban Art Mapping, a project that documents and studies street art as a form of public expression.
Shut Up and Play: A Brief History
Back in 2014, when Officer Daniel Pantaleo suffocated Eric Garner in a chokehold one long and hot summer day in Long Island, New York, scores of professional athletes decided to express their frustrations. Some kneeled while others donned shirts bearing the words, “I cant breathe” as a way to silently but visibly protest the continual confluence of Black death, racism, poverty, and endemic police brutality in the US. Many Black sports fans welcomed this expression of solidarity while many White fans did the exact opposite.