Colored Conventions

Starting in 1830 and continuing until well after the Civil War, free, freed and self-emancipated Blacks gathered in state and national political conventions. A cornerstone of Black organizing in the nineteenth century, these “Colored Conventions” brought Black men and women together in a decades-long campaign for civil and human rights. The first “Colored Convention” was in Philadelphia.

In a series of two murals, situated at 315 and 351 Washington Avenue, The Colored Conventions Project is partnering with Mural Arts Philadelphia to memorialize the Colored Conventions Movement and its attendees. The murals, by artist Ernel Martinez, will draw parallels between the conventions movement and contemporary Black community organizing movements.

MURAL BY: Ernel Martinez