Powerful Art of Powerful Women

The walls in Tallahassee have never been so full of color. Two new murals by artist Kollet Hardeman were recently revealed at The Florida People’s Advocacy Center in FrenchTown. Funds for the work were raised through the GoFundMe platform with many local businesses contributing the cause.

Location: 603 N. Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd

Ruth Bader Ginsburg

The mural of Ruth Bader Ginsburg honors the trailblazing lawyer, judge and United States Supreme Court Justice, and her contributions to civil rights. The mural’s placement on the wall of the Florida People’s Advocacy Center is a powerful tribute to the work going on inside the Center to promote fairness and equality.

Justice Ginsburg was the second woman appointed to the U.S. Supreme Court, serving on that court from 1993 until her death in 2020. Throughout her career, Justice Ginsburg was known for her keen intellect and her passionate fight for women’s rights. She was a role model to many and left behind an enduring legacy – not only to our legal system, but also on our democracy. As stated by Kristen Clarke, president and executive director of the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law upon Justice Ginsburg’s death, “Though Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg is best  known as a champion for women’s rights, her record on racial justice issues was second to none during her time on the court…She has inspired countless generations of women, lawyers and advocates to resiliently fight for our country to live up to the ideals enshrined in our Constitution. “

Rosa Parks

Often referred to as the “Mother of the Civil Rights era,” Rosa Parks is most well-known for her 1955 refusal to give up her seat on a bus to a white passenger. This refusal sparked the Montgomery bus boycott, a pivotal event of the Civil Rights Movement.

Although Parks’ refusal to give up her bus seat led her to become a popular symbol of the civil rights movement, her action that day on the bus was a natural outgrowth of her life long dedication to activism and civil rights. In fact, Parks was a longtime member of Montgomery National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP).; and when she inspired the bus boycott, Parks had been the secretary of that organization for twelve years. Parks founded the Montgomery NAACP Youth Council and later served as secretary of the Alabama State Conference of the NAACP, where she traveled throughout the state interviewing victims of discrimination and witnesses to lynching’s.