ReAwakening the Underground Railroad Mural!
Near the Ithaca Commons on Green St. under Aurora St.
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Community Context
Murals throughout Ithaca provide a living curriculum--a welcoming, educational experience grounded in the glorious history of where we are. This Underground Railroad mural reminds us that we live in a place shaped by courage, resistance, and greatness.
There is so much to learn and teach about Black history, our Black present, and our collective future. Our ancestors left us blueprints—messages—and the question is what we are doing with them today. Murals can remind us of this legacy and responsibility. We are invited to learn, reflect, and imagine who we are and who we want to be. |
This project also asks us to reflect on the Underground Railroad of today. There are truths still hidden across education, housing, healthcare, and beyond. Harriet Tubman, Frederick Douglass, and other Black ancestors left us blueprints for liberation, reminding us that freedom begins with awareness. We are still waking up—to our identities, our history, and our love for Blackness.
Supporting this mural means supporting local Black artists who connect past and present with care and intention. We are growing. We are transforming. And there is still important work to do.
Supporting this mural means supporting local Black artists who connect past and present with care and intention. We are growing. We are transforming. And there is still important work to do.
Most importantly, this project gives us an opportunity to reflect on the much needed Underground Railroad of today. There are so many truths and untruths that need to be revealed in education, housing, medical system, and more. Studying the work of our ancestors, our abolitionist teachers, and the methodologies that they’ve mapped out, will give us access to truths that we are yearning for - or not yearning for - until we learn about the work of Harriet Tubman. Harriet Tubman left us a blueprint that she mapped out for us, she said that she would have freed so many more enslaved Africans if only they knew they were enslaved. There are ways in which we still have some waking up to do around our identity and our own love for Blackness.
Black consciousness work provides an opportunity for each of us to reflect on our relationship to Blackness. The more that we teach, learn, and have exposure to an authentic education of Black History, the greater opportunity we have to bring to life the messages our abolitionist ancestors left for us.
Please join us in supporting the work of incredible local Black artists as we work together to “ReAwaken" this mural to a whole new level. These incredible artists can provide the link and explicit connection between the history and the present, and it’s time… It’s time to offer that in our community. We’re growing and we’re transforming, but we still have so much work to do.
Black consciousness work provides an opportunity for each of us to reflect on our relationship to Blackness. The more that we teach, learn, and have exposure to an authentic education of Black History, the greater opportunity we have to bring to life the messages our abolitionist ancestors left for us.
Please join us in supporting the work of incredible local Black artists as we work together to “ReAwaken" this mural to a whole new level. These incredible artists can provide the link and explicit connection between the history and the present, and it’s time… It’s time to offer that in our community. We’re growing and we’re transforming, but we still have so much work to do.
