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Credit: Drew Angerer/Getty
A DC artist is commemorating Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson’s historic Supreme Court victory with a stunning mural.
Nia Katurah Calhoun puts the finishing touches on a mural project dedicated to the incredible legal journey of the first female Black Justice. According to Africa News, Calhoun’s piece will show Jackson following in the footsteps of his father, Johnny Brown, who is also a lawyer.
“I wanted to celebrate this momentous occasion while also honoring a really, really nuanced past,” Calhoun said of the beautiful mural, which will run the length of a building in northwest Washington DC, according to the publication. “A lot of the mural is very dark because it represents that we had to go through a long period of oppression to have a black woman sit on the highest court in the land,” she continued. “But there’s a rising sun coming from the east and it’s shining directly on her because it’s a brand new day.”
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Driven by her determination and the unwavering support of her family, Jackson rose through the ranks of the halls of Harvard Law School to the vice chairmanship of the US Sentencing Commission during the Obama administration in 2010. The star was appointed to serve the US court. appeals for the DC Circuit in March 2021, just before landing a seat on the Supreme Court bench this year. In addition to Jackson, the honorary coin will honor African-American heritage and Constance Baker Motley who became the first African-American female federal judge to serve the nation in 1966.
“If you look at the two green lines behind me, one represents the east coast of America and the other represents the west coast of Africa and the journey that she and her family have been on figuratively and literally. to get to where she is. [Ketanji] talked about going from segregation to the Supreme Court in a generation. So there are a lot of sharp jagged shapes that represent the glass ceiling that she had to break through to get where she is,” Calhoun added of her vision behind the mural.
On April 7, the Senate officially confirmed Jackson as next Supreme Court Justice with 53 votes to 47. A White House official said CNN that Jackson will continue to work with the United States Court of Appeals until she transitions to her new role.
During her opening speech, the 51-year-old law enforcer said she admired her parents’ resilience.
“When I was born here in Washington, my parents were public school teachers, and to express both pride in their heritage and hope for the future, they gave me an African name; ‘Ketanji Onyika’, which they were told meant ‘beautiful’, Jackson recalled.
“My parents taught me that unlike the many obstacles they faced growing up, my path was clearer, so that if I worked hard and believed in myself, in America, I could do anything. or be whatever I wanted to be.”
When Sen. Cory Booker of New Jersey asked the former public defender about the values his parents had instilled in him throughout his life, Jackson shared:
“They taught me to work hard. They taught me perseverance. They taught me that anything is possible in this great country.
She Will Rise, an organization campaigning for a black woman to be nominated to the Supreme Court, has teamed up with Calhoun to launch the upcoming art project.
RELATED CONTENT: Senate expected to confirm Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson toward final vote
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