NewStudio Gallery

07/09/2026

Mural festival artist announcement!

07/09/2026

Let’s be more like London and expand our policies and investments across St. Paul and its creative neighborhoods to make it a globally renowned center of creativity and enterprise.

03/10/2026

01/19/2026

When people visualize Martin Luther King Jr.’s contributions to United States history, he is often placed in the moment of his iconic “I Have a Dream” speech at the 1963 March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom, at the head of a march, or perhaps just off to the side at the signing of the Voting Rights Act of 1965.

Most known for his nonviolent philosophy and peaceful protest approach, students are often introduced to King in these bite-sized moments. When we only learn about one phase or achievement of a person’s life it leaves us with an incomplete picture.

One way to explore King’s legacy over time is through the lens of visual art. Many American artists have responded to King in the decades since his death, and analyzing the multiple perspectives represented by their artworks can help students explore our evolving national memory of the civil rights leader.

By examining primary sources, ranging from photographs to pins and protest flyers, we can widen our lens to acknowledge the range of King’s ideas throughout his lifetime. And by analyzing both contemporaneous and later artworks that were created in response to King’s assassination, we consider his impact on the nation and perspectives we might not have considered before.



Image:
René Castro, “I Am Ashamed, MLK,” 1992, screenprint on paper, sheet: 30 1⁄8 × 23 1⁄4 in. (76.5 × 59.1 cm) image: 25 7⁄8 × 18 1⁄4 in. (65.7 × 46.4 cm), Smithsonian American Art Museum