Marshall in Motion: Artist's McAlester mural honors civil rights, justice figure

Aug. 19—Chandler Watson said his mural on the wall of a McAlester law office aims to honor a civil rights and justice figure.

The Oklahoma City artist said the mural is a way to provoke critical thinking about the meaning of freedom and to remind people about the late Thurgood Marshall's work toward progress in upholding civil rights.

"Thurgood Marshall is what the justice system should be if it ever lived up to what it could be," Watson said Thursday at a dedication ceremony.

The mural was painted on a wall of the office building for McAlester-based attorneys Brecken Wagner and Blake Lynch, who hosted a dedication ceremony Thursday.

A quote from Marshall — "The First Amendment serves not only the needs of the polity but also those of the human spirit — a spirit that demands self-expression" — that is used in the mural comes in a landmark case which the McAlester attorneys used in a local case.

McAlester Mayor John Browne attended the Thursday ceremony and proclaimed the day "Marshall in Motion Day" throughout the city.

Thurgood Marshall was America's first Black Supreme Court Justice and served as Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States from October 1967 until October 1991. He died in 1993 at 84 years old.

He graduated from the Howard University School of Law in 1933 before successfully arguing several cases before the Supreme Court — including Brown v. Board of Education, Smith v. Allwright, and Shelley v. Kraemer.

Brown v. Board of Education is the landmark US Supreme Court decision ruling racial segregation in public schools is unconstitutional on May 17, 1954. Smith v. Allwright is another landmark decision that overturned Texas state law that authorized parties to set internal rules that included the use of white primaries. Shelley v. Kraemer is the landmark case that struck down racially restrictive housing.

President John F. Kennedy appointed Marshall to the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit in 1961. President Lyndon B. Johnson appointed him as the United States Solicitor General four years later before successfully nominating him in 1967 to the US Supreme Court.

Wagner said the idea for the mural came as the law partners discussed ways to help beautify the city. Wagner and Lynch donated resources to place a roundabout near the post office in McAlester, which includes a buffalo statue in the middle of it.

Watson said he had a sketch idea for a building and reached out when Wagner and Lynch sought artists for the mural.

"And the way Brecken started speaking about Thurgood Marshall was like how I've heard people talk about Michael Jordan or Kobe Bryant," Watson said. He said that passion further motivated him.

Watson said he moved a lot as a child because his parents were in the military before he ended up going to Choctaw-Nicoma Park High School in Oklahoma.

He went on to Rose State College and University of Central Oklahoma before he became interested in art through comedy.

Watson said he moved to Los Angeles to pursue a career in comedy and held the stage with some national headliners. He continued painting and taking photos, all the while using the warm-up technique of painting and drawing different things.

"It works with anything creative I'm about to do," Watson said. "If I have at least two minutes to sit down with a sketch book and just figure out what's on mind and what I don't need to focus on, it's kind of a moment of stillness before a bad thunderstorm."

Watson returned to Oklahoma and continued his art through painting, photography and comedy.

He thanked Wagner and Lynch and the McAlester community for their support and hospitality while completing the mural.

Contact Adrian O'Hanlon III at aohanlon@mcalesternews.com