African American Wall of History Mural
Rusk, Texas
One year ago, this month the African American Mural of History was completed on the wall of the Cherokee County Courthouse basement. In celebration of African American History Month, the public is invited to visit the courthouse and take a look at this historical mural which contains a great amount of history of Cherokee County schools: Fred Douglass, Booker T. Washington, George W. Bradford, Forest and Rosenwald schools; churches, laborers, athletes, veterans and much more.
The mural began as a discussion between Cherokee County Judge Chris Davis and George Martin who was then Cherokee County Historical Commission Vice Chair. Following the discussion, the two began collecting information. George enlisted the help of then Commission Chairperson Debra Burkett, put together a committee consisting of Dr. Richard Hackney of Bullard, Charlie Esco of Jacksonville, Maxine Session of Rusk, Linda Skinner and Charles Ann Mickey of Alto. Each began collecting history from his or her area and Cherokee County in general.
“The history mural is just the beginning we hope”, George stated. It is a collection of documented and undocumented history of the life and contributions of African Americans that should be known by all.
George is currently Cherokee County Historical Commission Chair. Please share copies of family and community history with George and the commission. You may contact him or Debra Burkett, Vice Chair at the commission office located in Rusk, Texas, 138 West Fifth Street, across from the Rusk Post Office, or 903 683-9680, e-mail: cchc@cocherokee.org.
The Cherokee County Courthouse is open from 8:00am to 5:00pm Monday through Friday. The mural is located on the wall of the basement which is easy access to this ground floor from the 5thStreet side of the courthouse. Again, the public is invited to view this history.
Above, Javan Franklin of Jacksonville, Texas views the mural at the Cherokee County, TX Courthouse.