Archive for October 10th, 2009

As a strong supporter and employee of the labor movement, the Samuel Gompers memorial in Samuel Gompers Memorial Park (on Massachusetts Ave, between 10th and 11th Streets NW) holds a sense of inspiration for me. The statue was sculpted by Robert Ingersoll Aitken in 1933 and was dedicated by then president Franklin D. Roosevelt (read the dedication speech.)

Samuel Gompers was the first president of the American Federation of Labor and is considered a father of the American labor movement. It was under Gomper’s leadership that the AFL secured an 8 hour workday for America’s workers and began seeking legislative protections by electing union members and supporters to political office, a practice which rooted labor’s long-standing relationship with the Democratic party.

I’ll end with an interesting tidbit: In the 1940s, thieves reportedly discovered that the base of the monument was hollow and used it as a hideout. Another tidbit: Samuel Gompers had 12 children.

I was walking around Logan Circle one day and stumbled across this eye-catching mural on the side of Logan Hardware (on P ST NW, between 14th and 15th.) The bright and true shade of red really intrigued me, so I took a few photos and vowed to learn the story of this mural.

Turns out it’s a rather simple story. Famed artist Shepard Fairey (he’s the one responsible for the ubiquitous Obama “HOPE” portrait) painted the portrait overnight on October 15, 2008. The mural is based on a central piece from Fairey’s show The Duality of Humanity which he is quoted as saying represents the “human struggle between good and bad, hope and fear.”

I say kudos to Fairey for creating a memorable mural that succeeds in his goal to depict the polarity of the world. The image of a child soldier with gun in hand and flower in hat definitely makes one ponder the concepts of innocence, power, death and peace.