Students, teachers, principals, staff at One City Schools, along with parents and families and community members, have been able to walk through and experience important people and events in Black history and the Black Lives Matter movement on the third floor of One City Schools this February at the 2nd annual Cultural Art Walk honoring Black Lives Matter.
Adrian Outlaw, the One City Schools safety officer, is the creator of the Cultural Art Walk and was responsible for assembling all of the artwork, pictures, and memorabilia.
“Last year, we did the first annual Cultural Art Walk for Juneteenth. We got a bunch of stuff together and the scholars helped put it up in the room. I did a Black cowboy presentation to kick it all off,” Outlaw tells Madison365. “This year, I got a bunch of feedback about the first one being a huge success. The kids loved it and the people who came to see the display really enjoyed it because it gave them a chance to be interactive with a lot of the pieces. So this year, we decided to do another one.”
Black History Month celebrations hit their 100-year milestone in the United States this year and schools across America are doing their own celebrations in a variety of fun and creative ways. Celebrations initially started in 1926 with “Negro History Week” initiated by Dr. Carter G. Woodson, who is considered the “Father of Black History.” In 1986, Congress passed a law to officially recognize February as National Black History Month.
As One City honors Black History Month this year, Outlaw decided to focus on gathering pieces and products from more current days so that young people could really connect.
“So with this one, we focused on the Black Lives Matter movement, and we added some things from Black culture into it,” he says. “So the kids do the mannequins, where they can come through and do the hair, and then we talk about a lot of the musicians and artists that the kids would know about, and some that they didn’t know about from the past that really influence modern day. 
“One of the pieces on the wall has a lot of our poems from our kids from when they were in fifth grade, who are now in eighth grade,” Outlaw continues. “So that has a lot of their emotions, a lot of their points of view on Black History Month and learning about Jim Crow and racism. So that’s a big piece.”
On a separate table at the Cultural Art Walk, Outlaw has copies of “Let’s Talk About it: The Art, The Artists and The Racial Justice Movement on Madison’s State Street.” In that book, more than 100 murals originally commissioned by the City of Madison on storefronts generously provided by downtown business owners are celebrated in this striking collection of art and protest.
“I tell the kids and teachers and staff members to check out those books to see all of the wonderful artwork from the protest,” Outlaw says. “And then one of the books is all of the artwork from Jean-Michel Basquiat, a very prominent African American artist.
“Overall, we have a lot of great pieces that really shine a light on the different points of view from the Black Lives Matter movement.”
The 2nd Annual Cultural Art Walk honoring Black Lives Matter is a point of pride for many of the students at One City Schools, where the majority of the student population is African American. “We put it up this month, and the kids have been slowly coming in, and were actually very surprised about it,” Outlaw says. “Some kids were not born yet during the whole protest and the riots for Black Lives Matter. So the kids are like, ‘Hey, my mom listens to this artist, or my mom plays this person all the time at home.’ So the kids are very open to the fact that this is a lot of things that they have seen or heard about before.”
Outlaw says that he is excited about the One City Open House on Friday, Feb. 20, where people will be touring the building and meeting the staff and will be able to see the Cultural Art Walk for themselves.
“I’m really looking forward to the open house. I will be up there at the Cultural Art Walk and people are welcome to come upstairs and check it out, take pictures and interact with the pieces,” Outlaw says.
Outlaw is happy to see that the Cultural Art Walk has become an annual thing at One City.
“Each year, the idea is to bring something new or old to the building. That way, the kids have something new to learn about, or something where they can be like, ‘Oh, I remember this, or I know who this person is.’ We want to keep this fresh and at the same time give them something that they can look forward to.”
