Muralist Brings Vision of King, ‘60s Civil Rights to USD in Photo Exhibit

Having Rosa Parks examine a mural depicting the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s contributions to the civil rights movement of the 1960s was not only an honor but a big help to artist Don Miller.

The woman who jolted a sleepy Alabama town by refusing to give up her bus seat for a white passenger, sparking the boycott many say began the civil rights movement, pointed out an inaccuracy in Miller’s work.

Miller showed the bus headed for Capital Heights. Parks said it was the Cleveland Avenue route she boarded that fateful day--Dec. 1, 1955.

Miller told the story to a small group of students during lunch Wednesday at the University of San Diego as they stood in front of a photo exhibit of the mural, which is permanently installed in a library in Washington.

“So did you change it?” asked Christine Morvillo, 21, a junior at the university.

“Oh yes, I repainted it,” he said, before launching back into a lively narrative of how he created the mural, and the many friends and associates of King he met during the project.

The event was held in recognition of Black History Month, and is one of several scheduled throughout February at the campus.

Another presentation by Miller, featuring a slide show, was scheduled Wednesday night and was expected to draw several hundred people, including students and leaders of San Diego’s African-American community.

The actual mural consists of two 28-foot-long, 7-foot-high panels, which hang in the Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial Library in Washington. The exhibit shows the development of the mural and includes shots of some of the people who visited Miller during the project, including the Rev. Ralph D. Abernathy, one of King’s closest friends.

“I set out to make this mural the best-researched piece of visual history that anybody has ever done,” Miller said.

It took two years to paint, and was completed in 1986, just before the nation celebrated King’s birthday as a national holiday for the first time.

“I knew I had two years to complete it,” Miller said, explaining that he began sketching the mural and researching it eight months before the library agreed to contract him to paint the public work for $200,000.

Miller’s research included public records, books, photos and interviews of King’s close associates.

Rosa Parks visited his studio in Montclair, N.J., when the work was about two-thirds done.

“Rosa Parks is like a velvet-covered sledgehammer in terms of her character and sweet personality,” he said.

Miller told the students about his interview with the late H. D. Nixon, who bailed Parks out of jail after she was arrested for refusing to give up her seat. Nixon chose King to lead a boycott of the bus line, for the first time bringing King into the role of civil rights leader.

The “huge, rough-cut man” delivered a firsthand account of the historic events that took place in the basement of Dexter Avenue Baptist Church, King’s church in Montgomery, Ala., Miller said.

At first, King would not agree to lead the boycott, Nixon told him, because he had just come to town, had a 2-week-old baby and had not met Nixon before. But, after doing some research, he agreed.

“Nixon said, ‘I think that’s a good idea, because I called a meeting to be held in your church and it would embarrassing if you weren’t there.’ ” Miller said, in a friendly, relaxed voice reminiscent of Jimmy Stewart.

Nixon is depicted walking side by side with King in front of the bus.

Miller is an African-American, born in Jamaica, who has lived most of his life in Montclair, where he still resides. He has worked as an illustrator specializing in African-American children’s books.

“I knew these events took place,” Morvillo, the student, said after the presentation. “But you don’t really know all the details. They kind of give it more depth.”

Sophomore Edward Beck, 23, is a math major at the university but has a special interest in social issues.

“I’m interested in the story behind the story,” he said. Miller “obviously had a lot of that. He gave a lot of insight they don’t give in the classroom.”

The exhibit was paid for by Woolworth Corp., which sponsors Miller’s visits to colleges and universities. Miller will speak at San Diego State University at noon today.