BROADCASTS.com

Inch by inch, painstaking work continues at the new Cedar Rapids City Hall to unveil a colorful mural cycle that was painted on the third-floor walls of the former federal courthouse during the Great Depression that not once, but twice, was whitewashed because it was deemed as inferior or offensive.

The creation and the changing reception of the mural scene, The Evolution of Justice, painted by Iowan artist Everett Jeffrey, encompasses Iowan artists and society in an avant-garde art project, in ways that have not been fully acknowledged. While the east and west wall of the mural cycle are still whitewashed since the 1960s, interest in the murals continues. Private and public funding has helped uncover the north and south wall while funding for the east and west wall are being fundraised.

Andrea Rodriguez graduated from Cornell College with a Bachelor of Arts in Art History (Honors) and a Bachelor of Science Minor in Chemistry. She has published an article on this topic in the Iowa History Journal, January/February 2015 edition. She currently works as a digital archivist and an executive assistant for Doorstep Digital in Houston, Texas. For more information about the State Historical Society of Iowa, visit www.iowahistory.org.