It's the first collective street mural. However, soon after its creation, polarized interpretations of heroic action within the African American community caused conflict over the paintings, notably with the replacement by artist Eugene Eda of more defiant leaders and symbols, such as the fist of the Black power Movement.

After a 1971 fire damaged the building on which the Wall of Respect was painted, the entire structure was torn down and the mural thus destroyed.^[6] Largely forgotten by the mainstream art world, the Wall of Respect continues to be an important cultural reference point for local community members and the subject of scholarly inquiry.

Left to right; Malcolm Shabazz (Malcolm X), Ella Baker, Martin Luther King, Frederick Douglass.

The quote above the pictures,"We Who Believe in Freedom Cannot Rest", is from Ella Baker, a founder of SNCC (Student Non-Violent Coordinating Committee), a civil rights group. which amongst other contributions, helped to coordinate "Freedom Rides"in the early 1960's.

She was an American baker and Civil Rights activist after her son James Chaney was murdered by the KKK during the 1964 Freedom Summer (Mississippi).

Part of a series titled American Civics. The pieces are all based on photographs by photojournalist Jim Marshall, and the two in SF focus on voting rights and workers’ rights.