I'm here on Lincoln Way in South Bend, and I'm here with Oscar.

Oscar.

You created all of this behind me.

Tell me a little bit about what this is and why you did it.

Yes.

Thank you for having me.

So this is.

So this mural is a tribute to these four icons here, as well as the community in Lincoln Way West.

It was done in the span of 11 days, about almost close to 100 hours, with spray paint and and house paint altogether.

Nice.

And as you can see, I've got my daughter here with me today and she wants to jump in the shot.

So I know the first one, Harold Brazier, because I know brazier pit boxing.

So tell me about all four who's in them.

Sorry.

No.

Harold Brazier, world champion, critically acclaimed.

Jim.

Then we also have Gladys Glass Muhammad, who is a social advocate.

Everyone.

Everyone says she's kind of like the unofficial mayor of South Bend.

We got Charles Martin, educator, scholar, people that he's trying a lot of people to come entrepreneurs.

And then we got the late, great Rosemary Sanders, one of the first black violinist in the symphony orchestra.

How do you even go from just like, the vision to, like, making sure it all fits on the wall properly?

Like, I feel like it's just, like, so intense to like to see it in a small scale, but then make it this big.

I mean, it must just take a lot of effort and work.

So yeah, we just do magic.

We just do the magic, and then I'm kidding.

So we do this thing called a squiggle grid or goofy grid.

So it's a bunch of letters, symbols and what have you kind of like throughout the wall.

And you use a mixture of either Photoshop or Procreate, and you have your sketch, you're finished drawing and you compose it to where to compose it with your goofy grid, and you draw wherever it lands on the grid.

Nice.

And so do you have other work around the city?

Are you from South Bend originally?

Yes, I grew up in South Bend and I went to Clay High School.

I'm currently living in Chicago for the past 15 years, and I do have one more piece from Mural Mania two years ago at the South Bend Museum of Art garage.

Awesome.

And so is this.

Staying up indefinitely like this is going to be here forever.

Like, this is just something that's obviously this.

This is not going to be ever drawn over.

You're hoping this is here as long as the walls here.

Oh, absolutely.

Okay.

Yeah.

It's going to be here for a long, long time.

I pledge to the Murdochs who own the church of Faith deliverance, as well as the Institute of Social Concern.

There's like, there's anything that happens to it.

Please let me know so I can go fix and repair it.

Awesome.

Well, thank you so much.

It's so impressive.

And I know we're about to have the official launch of it here, and hopefully we get to talk to some of the family members from this as well.

So thank you so much.

I appreciate boss.

Thank you for having me.

Thank you.

Today is a big culmination of a years long process.

Tell me what started it and how we got here.

Yeah, well, we'd have to go back to the the fall of last year when we were completing a different mural on Lincoln Way West, and the Murdoch stopped by and said, hey, what's going on here?

And so we got to talk in and one conversation led them next.

And then we got pretty serious about the possibility of doing what the institute is committed to, which is telling local stories with local artists that really lift up the dignity of our neighbors and celebrate the common good of our neighborhoods.

And so this was really a great match of of people and conversations that led to the with great intention, the story we wanted to tell on Lincoln Way.

West Lincoln Way is Lincoln Highway, its historic, connecting San Francisco to New York, and this was an original segment of it.

And there's so much history and culture here.

And so to to gather around the table and have one conversation after another, to think through what would best represent our community and, and then reaching out to different neighbors and getting feedback with the Murdochs, taking the lead and then getting connected to Oscar Jojo, South Bend Zone, who is now a prominent muralist in Chicago but a Clay High School graduate and incredibly talented.

And so then when he came to the table, we knew that we were we had something special.

And so then eight, nine months later, after 100 hours of painting, here we are with this mural.

So what was the conversations like in deciding who are the people that were going to be on the wall?

Yeah, well, we started with what's the what's the emotion?

You know, you see a mural and what do you want to feel.

And so we talked about resilience.

We talked about inspiration.

And truthfully there are so many stories along the corridor, so many stories on the west side.

We knew we couldn't come close to doing justice, to celebrating all the stories.

But there are particular stories that we thought could capture a lot of the community because of the the plethora of relationships that they have, the influence that they've had, the mentorship.

And so then we we started thinking seriously about who those people can be, but then how they might be represented.

So what I love about the mural is that we've got our four exemplars that really pop from this, from the street.

But perhaps even more importantly, we have the tapestry that connects it all.

So the people in the background and those are businesses and neighbors along Lincoln Way.

And and so putting that all together really then lifts up the community in a very large way, a very inspiring way, and, and just grateful for the intentionality of representing a musician and educator, a civil rights activist and athletes, and the breadth of what that represents.

It is the individuals, yes, but it's so much more.

It's what they represent, and they represent a very rich, a very courageous and a very resilient community.

So I'm here with Harold Brazier, world champion boxer from South Bend.

How does it feel to be on the wall here and just have this moment?

It's a great time.

What do you think of one of the keys to everybody?

Love recognition.

Until a person doesn't like recognition and then somebody else is getting to much of it.

Well, I like it.

I know your son pretty well.

And I will say you pass down your humor to him, which I really like.

So when you talked about your wife here today and you talk about your family, but, you know, it's a it's been a long journey for you and you still actually teach boxing fit and still to this day.

Right?

So we do we have that was my passion is to help.

We got started off with a baby boomer to get in shape.

Yeah I'm a baby boomer and they helped all baby boomers.

But then the trickle down and then the lady started coming in and the kids started coming.

Now just growing up.

And even I started coming as well.

Now I'm only recently back, so don't take my body shape for his success.

Okay, so but this is amazing again.

And what's your favorite thing about South Bend and being from here and all the time that you've spent here?

Well, my family, I come from a big family.

14 you know, we we didn't have a lot of cousins, but we had a lot of brothers and sisters and grew up together.

And you just, you know, being there for the procedures, I love that.

Yeah.

It's all kind of things to do.

One of the better places to raise the family.

Yeah.

You know, all the all the commotion and all the other city, big cities.

So there's no more perfect way to family.

Well, I know some of your kids, and I know you and your wife have done a great job raising those kids.

And you've got some great grandkids as well.

They're amazing.

Great grandkids and five great grandkids.

And I've got my daughter here today as well.

So that's why I got to go to Brazier Fit, because I got to be around a long time for her, you know.

Well thank you so much and congratulations.

It's wonderful to see everybody out here tonight.

Thank you so much.

Yeah, you're a great guy.

So thank you.

So, Gladys, what does it mean to have been selected to be on this wall?

It's a it's an honor.

And I appreciate it because my people did it.

I appreciate that the church did it.

And the people that I know in the community, all of them coming together, it just makes me feel so proud.

So in addition to you being there, there are some people that you know that surround you.

Can you tell me some of those people?

There's a picture of my sister Barnett, who was my my roadie, my sidekick.

Everywhere I went, she went to.

And then there's Harold Brazier.

When I did the Red Ribbon March Against Drugs, I needed a famous person.

There was Harold right there to help me, and I was so glad to.

Charles, mine was just a wonderful, wonderful human being.

I don't know anybody better than Charles Mine, who dedicated his life to save the lives and young people in our community.

And the lady from the symphony.

Oh, I was so glad to meet our relatives.

And you know, when the lady was in the symphony, Doctor Curtis told me they didn't even show her face.

Didn't show her face.

But today, all of our faces are here.

So what do you hope people take away from seeing this?

I mean, there's history, but where do you hope it leads them?

I think they'll be proud because everybody knows Charles mine's name, and everybody knows my name.

I was driving my car down the street, and I didn't know the mirror was up.

And there was a young lady walking down the street, and she missed Mohammed.

Miss Mohammed, your picture is on the wall.

And that made me feel good because they recognized me and they can get on the wall to one day.

So what will you tell to the next generation if they see this and know that you can be successful?

What's your message to that next generation?

My message is that you can too.

You can do it.

I did it.

I grew up with 17, 16 brothers and sisters on the west side of town near the city dump.

And I grew up and I did it.

And you can do it too.

So now we're chatting with Helen.

Helen, this is your mom behind us here.

Can you tell me a little bit about her and why she ended up here on this wall?

Well, I tell you, you'd have to go away back to the early 40s.

She was kept in the back, hidden from the rest of the orchestra.

She had auditioned and got in.

Yeah, but she remained in the back.

So she was a violinist.

She was a first violinist.

And she was excellent.

She was pretty close to a prodigy.

Yeah, because she picked up things fast.

Yeah.

Tunes, music.

I mean, that was her love, you know?

And so she was the first African American to be accepted into the symphony.

Is that correct?

Yes.

But as you said, was she kept behind the scenes obviously due to segregation or maybe the audience wouldn't wouldn't accept it?

Yeah.

Even some of the players, I'm sure, probably wouldn't accept it.

But she was one.

Her strength was in her silence.

Yeah, she didn't make waves about it, but she said that she wanted to be an excellent violinist and teacher because she taught music, too.

Yeah.

In fact, she taught Notre Dame students.

When my brother and I, we were about her age.

Yeah, yeah, but she loved what she did.

And we wanted to do this as a tribute.

You know, the whole thing with the film and the musical score and all of that is to honor her and others like her throughout the country that have suffered those same injustices, you know?

And so did she end up being kept in the back the whole time, or did she eventually become part of the orchestra that people see?

She she, she's kept in the back and she just endured all those years.

She was there 15 years.

They never put her name in the program.

Yeah.

And she could write music, too.

She's a beautiful, beautiful artist.

So and so you also showed me that, like, it's it's passed down now through the generations.

Can you also explain who's up here on the wall as well?

Is that a granddaughter?

That's my granddaughter Maya.

And she just.

Yeah.

She's been playing since grade school.

She just graduated from high school.

This year was a lot of that inspiration from her great grandma or.

Yes and no.

I also played, but I was not like mama that very clear.

Well, I couldn't light a candle to her.

What would you want?

People as they drive by here and see this?

What would you want them to remember about your mom?

I would say her strength, her love for music.

And her endurance at a very, very pivotal time in history.

Yeah, for people of color, you know, but I think most of all is that everyone needs to have something that they have a passion about.

Yeah.

In their lives.

Talent almost speak for itself.

Yes.

Yeah, exactly.

Let your talent be your loudest mouthpiece.

Maybe.

Yeah.

So.

But that's great.

Well, I'm so glad that she, along with the three other people that are being honored here with this mural.

So thank you for sharing her story.