The Miami Museum of Contemporary Art of the African Diaspora (MoCAAD) is honoring the late Judge Lawson E. Thomas – a man who fought fearlessly for the rights of Black people in Miami – with a mural etched on the building that once housed his Overtown law office at 1021 NW Second Ave.
The 49′ x 14′ work entitled “OVERtown: Our Family Tree,” is one of four murals that are a part of the museum’s “Veo Veo, I See I see, Mwen wè Mwen wè” interactive public art project exploring Overtown through visual art, storytelling and technology.
Mural visitors scan a QR code to interact with the piece.
(Courtesy of Miami MoCAAD)
Curator Donnamarie Baptiste selected the artists for the project.
“The focus was to find artists who speak to the Black diaspora and whose works speaks to uplifting communities,” said Corbin Graves, MoCAAD interactive media director.
Anthony “Mojo” Reed II, the St. Louis-born, Miami-based artist who created the mural, explained that it is meant to be a visual representation of Thomas’ legacy and everything the latter represented as the first Black judge in Miami-Dade County – and someone who fought for civil rights across South Florida.
Thomas, an attorney and judge who presided over Miami’s Negro Municipal Court, was also an activist who organized sit-ins calling for desegregation. Local historians credit him with leading a protest at Haulover Beach Park that eventually led to the creation of Virginia Key Beach, Miami’s historic Black beach.
