Without action, the Unity Mural will be demolished in 2025
By hola | Published
While the nation’s capital may be known for historical monuments made from bronze and stone, the District’s street murals hold a different value, depicting our lived experiences and artistic expressions, and the many vibrant cultures, both past and present, that contribute to D.C.’s landscape. Street murals are embedded in our neighborhoods, artworks that anyone can visit at any time.
Unfortunately, nearly the entire first wave of murals created by and for D.C.’s Latino community in the ‘70s, ‘80s and ‘90s have been destroyed over the years, erasing a tangible form of community memory along with them. And now another iconic Latino mural is about to be demolished: the Unity Mural.
Painted by a group of Latino and Black D.C. high school students in the summer of 1982 in what was at the time a center of D.C.’s Latino community, the Unity Mural is replete with symbols of Latin American culture. With its giant serpent nodding to Aztec mythology, butterflies and flowers representing Central American culture and a woman with a basket over her head depicting an image commonly seen in Jamaica, the mural has been a beloved part of Adams Morgan for more than 40 years.
Located off 18th St NW in Adams Morgan and overlooking the Marie Reed Community Center, the mural graces a wall of Pepco’s Champlain St NW substation. In 2017 Pepco announced its plans to renovate the Champlain substation by 2023 as part of the “Capital Grid” project, which would demolish the Unity Mural. Despite construction delays, Pepco still plans to move forward with the project, now scheduled to start in 2025, with expected completion by 2029.
After learning of Pepco’s demolition plans in 2018, Hola Cultura proposed preserving the Unity Mural. At the time, Hola Cultura met with Pepco executives to discuss how the mural could be saved.
Since the wall housing the mural was set for demolition, we researched and talked to local muralists and proposed a plan that would have recreated the mural on movable panels so it could be installed at an alternate location if Pepco did not want to continue as the mural’s steward. In 2019 our interns launched their own petition drive aimed at saving the mural, but Pepco rejected our proposal and remained firm on its intention to demolish the mural.
With the new demolition date approaching, we reached out again to Pepco this spring. When we contacted company executives, Pepco maintained its 2018 stance that the mural couldn’t be saved since the wall where it’s located will be demolished as part of the substation upgrade. Adina Kauzlarich, Pepco’s Senior Communications Manager, said that while the company was not planning to preserve the mural, it was considering ways to memorialize it, “whether through some kind of special signage or plaque.”
However, as we continued discussions with Pepco executives, the company’s position has shifted from a firm “no” to a “maybe.” In a follow-up remote meeting, Kauzlarich confirmed Pepco’s willingness to discuss what could be done to preserve the mural.
Ligia Medina (Becker) Williams, one of the lead artists of the Unity Mural when it was painted in 1982, says she’d like to see the mural preserved and “recreate[d] somewhere, somehow…” So do other residents we spoke with.
Program from the inauguration of the Unity Mural in August 1982 (courtesy of Ligia Medina (Becker) Williams)
“[E]ach time we lose one of those murals, we lose another piece of our identity as a city,” says Cory Lee Stowers, executive director of DCMurals, of the possible loss of the mural. “It would take out a cultural landmark. You have to look at it that way.”
“[P]eople may not think about it, but murals like that are touchpoints in people’s lives,” says Stowers, whose organization, founded in 1997, has the mission of preserving Washington, D.C.’s public art for future generations through documentation and conservation.
One of the oldest still-existing street murals in D.C., the Unity Mural was painted with guidance from two local, teaching artists: Williams, a Latina originally from Colombia who had immigrated to D.C. like many of the Latino students on the project, and the late Allen “Big Al” Carter, a prominent Black artist who was born in the District and taught art in D.C.’s public schools.
“The main purpose of this project was to have teenagers working together,” says Williams. “[We wanted] teenagers of different cultures, especially African American and Latin American teenagers, because there was a lot of friction between them in public schools…”
Mural making served as a bridge during those tense times. Students from both communities worked side by side in the true sense of “Unity.”
“Big Al and I had a good relationship. Our communication was very open. He had a great sense of humor, so we joked with each other,” says Williams. “I think that was a good influence for the kids to ease down the frictions.”
When asked about what she would say to Pepco in response to the mural demolition plans, Williams says she hopes Pepco won’t “demuralize” us, referencing one of the few other historic and still-standing street murals in the District, “Un Pueblo Sin Murales es Un Pueblo Dismuralizado” (A people without murals is a demuralized people).
Erika Becker-Medina (Williams’ daughter who resides in D.C.) is one of the D.C. residents who would like to see Pepco play a role in saving the mural that has beautified the Old Morgan School Place NW side of its Adams Morgan substation for the past 42 years.
The Unity mural’s impact on Adams Morgan and surrounding communities resonates deeply with Becker-Medina. Not only is she the daughter of one of the artists who spearheaded the mural’s creation but she is a mother to two third-generation Washingtonians attending D.C. public schools.
“Pepco is definitely an example of a company that should have the resources to partner with the community and do something that would benefit the community,” says Becker-Medina, adding that the same community members are Pepco’s customers. “Where is the effort to keep certain community artifacts alive, to not erase us?”
“The Unity Mural is an important and unique example of native Washingtonians — Black D.C. youth and recent immigrants to D.C. and Latino D.C. youth coming together to creatively improve the city’s aesthetic and our society,” says Becker-Medina. “This project meant D.C.’s youth had to work together across perceived racial and ethnic boundaries despite tensions in their community. The city should be emulating these projects, not erasing their footprints.”
When we heard from Pepco that that company is now open to discussing how to preserve the mural on panels, Hola Cultura reached back out to Becker-Medina, who called the development “wonderful news… It shows that Pepco understands the historical value of the Unity Mural. However, a full commitment from Pepco to preserving the mural would be ideal and more reassuring.”
“The Unity Mural is a visual reminder to the D.C. community of the good things that happen when we come together,” adds Becker-Medina. “The Unity Mural is beautiful, but what it represents historically is just as important to preserve.”
– Story by Xavier Andrade
– Copy edited by Michelle Benitez
Editorial
In danger of being “demuralized” again
Hola Cultura embarks on a second attempt to preserve this emblem of art and community
Unity Mural in 2024 (photo by intern Xavier Andrade)
The faded colors of the Unity Mural illustrate its longstanding presence on the wall of the Pepco substation in Adams Morgan. A scaled serpent, a butterfly and a woman holding a fruit basket watch over a neighborhood that has changed drastically over the past several decades. This irreplaceable street art is one of the few reminders of the neighborhood’s Latino history, but not for much longer, unless we act now.
This time capsule now faces the threat of demolition next summer, when Pepco expects to begin a redevelopment of the substation.
Hola Cultura first advocated for saving the Unity Mural in 2018, and we are once again calling for the preservation of this piece of artistic civic engagement. A group of Latino and Black D.C. public school students painted the mural in 1982 under the guidance of local artists, Ligia Medina (Becker) Williams and the late Allen “Big Al” Carter. The project turned into an uplifting and unifying opportunity for everyone to explore their cultural heritage.
“I remember students saying, ‘What culture? I don’t know my culture,’” says Williams. “You can think about anything when sketching about your culture. Just put it in your sketches, [make] something that tells who you are. And it seems like it worked.”
At the time, masses of Salvadorans were fleeing civil war and migrating to Adams Morgan and other neighborhoods with established Black communities and growing Latino populations. These neighborhoods became a refuge for many Central Americans, who found comfort in Latino establishments like grocery stores and restaurants. Several of these businesses have since shut down, and many Latino murals painted since the ‘70s have been taken down to make way for new developments. But a more upscale and less Latino Adams Morgan doesn’t have to mean the end of the Unity Mural.
When Hola Cultura first advocated preserving the Unity Mural, Pepco ultimately turned down our proposal. Now the company says it’s open to exploring the recreation of the mural on movable panels. This alternative would allow Pepco to move forward with its plans to demolish the wall where the mural has stood for decades while preserving this iconic piece of art. Those panels would also give the community an opportunity to find a new home for the mural if the utility company opts to commission a new mural instead of reinstalling Unity once substation renovations wrap up.
Axios featured the mural in October 2023 in its newsletter’s “Where’s Go-Go”
Before construction begins, Pepco must set up a Community Advisory Group of nearby residents, local representatives and city government staff, as directed by the Public Service Commission of the District of Columbia, which regulates utility companies operating in D.C. According to a company official, the group will have its first meeting in late 2024 or early next year to provide input on the Adams Morgan substation’s overhaul. Pepco officials say they’ll defer to this group when designing a new mural to grace the outside of the substation once they finish construction. Regardless of this new design, the Unity Mural should be saved.
Pepco has now changed its outright opposition to preserving the Unity Mural. While we commend Pepco for taking this first step, the utility company’s position today is far from fully committed. Now is the time to come together to ensure the survival of this important part of D.C.’s inspiring Latino mural-making history.
As participants in Hola Cultura’s SPEL youth storytelling program, including many of us being D.C. students attending the same public school system as the 1982 student artists, we firmly believe this piece of art and history must be saved. We call on the Latino community and all D.C. residents and art lovers to join forces for the preservation of the Unity Mural.
Will you join us in saving the Unity Mural? Email us at contact@holacultura.com.
If you are an Adams Morgan resident and want to learn more about the Community Advisory Group, you can email tculpepper@pepco.com.
Sincerely,
Hola Cultura & SPEL Teams
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