Talladega murals coming down for national tour | Arts & Culture

Murals that have hung on the campus of Talladega College for more than 70 years have started coming this week and will soon tour museums across the country.

The artist Hale Aspacio Woodruff was commissioned to create the Amistad Murals, now valued around $40 million, in 1938. The first three mural panels have hung at the school since the 1939 dedication of Savery Library.

Woodruff’s paintings depict the plight of Africans being violently transported to the West as slaves, the first civil rights case in America in 1841 (and the formation of the American Missionary Association), and their eventual free return to Africa.

Woodruff created the second set of panels in 1942 to celebrate the college’s 75th anniversary, and to honor the American Missionary Association for its role in founding the school. They portray scenes from the Underground Railroad, the first day of registration at the college and the building of Savery Library, where the murals have been on display since.

The murals are being taken down in pieces starting Monday. They will be restored and begin a tour of museums around the country. Billy C. Hawkins, the president of the college says the restoration and tour will benefit the school financially and bring it national attention.

"We believe it's a national treasure, and as president of this institution I'm just hoping that the state of Alabama realizes of this treasure, and a lot of folks have not known that this treasure was housed on this campus," Hawkins said.

Representatives from the Atlanta Art Conservation will work in conjunction with the High Museum of Art in Atlanta to remove and restore the mural panels, a two-year process.

The exhibition will be called “Rising Up: Hale Woodruff’s Murals at Talladega College,” and will be on display at the High Museum from June 2 to September 2, 2012. It will then travel to the Indianapolis Museum of Art, along with other to-be-announced locations. The murals will eventually return to Talladega in 2013.