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Paul Rucker

Selected Works Biography CV Exhibitions Back

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FOREVER: Medgar Evers, June 12, 1963. Jackson, Mississippi Fujicolor Crystal Archive emulsion sealed between solid recycled aluminum and a high-gloss UV protective laminate 40 x 30 in. (101.6 x 76.2 cm) Edition of 18  "FOREVER examines the history of civil rights martyrs—individuals and communities who were victims of racially motivated violence in the United States yet remain absent from many official systems of remembrance, including the commemorative narratives of U.S. postage stamps. Through this series, Paul Rucker confronts the politics of visibility and erasure, asking who is deemed worthy of national honor, and what forces shape those decisions. By recontextualizing archival absence as a site of artistic intervention, FOREVER challenges viewers to consider how collective memory is constructed, maintained, and selectively forgotten. The works do not simply memorialize the dead; they interrogate the systems that determine which lives are publicly mourned and which are left unmarked. In doing so, the series expands the meaning of commemoration beyond official recognition, asserting remembrance as an active responsibility rather than a passive inheritance. It calls attention to the ongoing consequences of racial violence while insisting on the necessity of confronting historical truth as part of the present. Together, these works form a counter-archive—one that restores presence where history has imposed silenceand insists that remembrance itself is a form of accountability."* The series includes the following individuals and groups. Included in this exhibition are marked with an asterisk. •*Medgar Wiley Evers (June 12, 1963): A civil rights activist and NAACP field secretary in Mississippi, Evers was murdered in his own driveway by a white segregationist. •*Emmett Louis Till (August 28, 1955): A 14-year-old boy brutally beaten and murdered in Mississippi; recent admissions revealed that the testimony used against him was fabricated. •*16th Street Baptist Church Bombing (September 15, 1963): Addie Mae Collins, Denise McNair, Carole Robertson, and Cynthia Wesley were killed when a bomb planted by Ku Klux Klan members exploded at a Birmingham church.  •Viola Fauver Gregg Liuzzo (March 25, 1965): A white activist from Detroit who traveled to Selma to support the Civil Rights Movement, Liuzzo was killed by Ku Klux Klan members in Alabama. •Edwin T. Pratt (January 26, 1969):The Executive Director of the Seattle Urban League, Pratt was shot at his home; the case remains officially unsolved. •The Scottsboro Boys (March 24, 1931): Nine teenagers were arrested on minor charges in Alabama, then wrongfully accused of rape, leading to rushed trials, death sentences, and life in prison. •Freedom Summer Murders (June 21-22, 1964): James Earl Chaney, Andrew Goodman, and Michael "Mickey" Schwerner were murdered in Neshoba County, Mississippi, by a group that included law enforcement and Klan members. •Vernon Ferdinand Dahmer, Sr. (January 11, 1966): An NAACP leader in Hattiesburg, Mississippi, Dahmer died after his home was firebombed by individuals with Klan connections. *Excerpted from the publication “Unfinished Republic: America at 250,” ISBN: 979-8-3507-6518-2, page 32.

FOREVER: Medgar Evers, June 12, 1963. Jackson, Mississippi
Fujicolor Crystal Archive emulsion sealed between solid recycled aluminum and a high-gloss UV protective laminate
40 x 30 in. (101.6 x 76.2 cm)
Edition of 18 


"FOREVER examines the history of civil rights martyrs—individuals and communities who were victims of racially motivated violence in the United States yet remain absent from many official systems of remembrance, including the commemorative narratives of U.S. postage stamps. Through this series, Paul Rucker confronts the politics of visibility and erasure, asking who is deemed worthy of national honor, and what forces shape those decisions.

By recontextualizing archival absence as a site of artistic intervention, FOREVER challenges viewers to consider how collective memory is constructed, maintained, and selectively forgotten. The works do not simply memorialize the dead; they interrogate the systems that determine which lives are publicly mourned and which are left unmarked.

In doing so, the series expands the meaning of commemoration beyond official recognition, asserting remembrance as an active responsibility rather than a passive inheritance. It calls attention to the ongoing consequences of racial violence while insisting on the necessity of confronting historical truth as part of the present.

Together, these works form a counter-archive—one that restores presence where history has imposed silenceand insists that remembrance itself is a form of accountability."*

The series includes the following individuals and groups. Included in this exhibition are marked with an asterisk.

•*Medgar Wiley Evers (June 12, 1963): A civil rights activist and NAACP field secretary in Mississippi, Evers was murdered in his own driveway by a white segregationist.

•*Emmett Louis Till (August 28, 1955): A 14-year-old boy brutally beaten and murdered in Mississippi; recent admissions revealed that the testimony used against him was fabricated.

•*16th Street Baptist Church Bombing (September 15, 1963): Addie Mae Collins, Denise McNair, Carole Robertson, and Cynthia Wesley were killed when a bomb planted by Ku Klux Klan members exploded at a Birmingham church. 

•Viola Fauver Gregg Liuzzo (March 25, 1965): A white activist from Detroit who traveled to Selma to support the Civil Rights Movement, Liuzzo was killed by Ku Klux Klan members in Alabama.

•Edwin T. Pratt (January 26, 1969):The Executive Director of the Seattle Urban League, Pratt was shot at his home; the case remains officially unsolved.

•The Scottsboro Boys (March 24, 1931): Nine teenagers were arrested on minor charges in Alabama, then wrongfully accused of rape, leading to rushed trials, death sentences, and life in prison.

•Freedom Summer Murders (June 21-22, 1964): James Earl Chaney, Andrew Goodman, and Michael "Mickey" Schwerner were murdered in Neshoba County, Mississippi, by a group that included law enforcement and Klan members.

•Vernon Ferdinand Dahmer, Sr. (January 11, 1966): An NAACP leader in Hattiesburg, Mississippi, Dahmer died after his home was firebombed by individuals with Klan connections.

*Excerpted from the publication “Unfinished Republic: America at 250,” ISBN: 979-8-3507-6518-2, page 32.

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FOREVER: Emmett Louis Till, August 28, 1955. Money, Mississippi: Tallahatchie River, 2019 Fujicolor Crystal Archive emulsion sealed between solid recycled aluminum and a high-gloss UV protective laminate 40 x 30 in. (101.6 x 76.2 cm) Edition of 15 

FOREVER: Emmett Louis Till, August 28, 1955. Money, Mississippi: Tallahatchie River, 2019
Fujicolor Crystal Archive emulsion sealed between solid recycled aluminum and a high-gloss UV protective laminate
40 x 30 in. (101.6 x 76.2 cm)
Edition of 15 

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FOREVER: Four Little Girls (Denise McNair), September 15, 1963. Birmingham, Alabama, 2019 Fujicolor Crystal Archive emulsion sealed between solid recycled aluminum and a high-gloss UV protective laminate 40 x 30 in. (101.6 x 76.2 cm) Edition of 15 

FOREVER: Four Little Girls (Denise McNair), September 15, 1963. Birmingham, Alabama, 2019
Fujicolor Crystal Archive emulsion sealed between solid recycled aluminum and a high-gloss UV protective laminate
40 x 30 in. (101.6 x 76.2 cm)
Edition of 15 

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FOREVER: Emmett Louis Till, 2026 FOREVER: Four Little Girls, 2026 Perforated postage stamp with dry, water-activated gum adhesive and dextrin, diptych Paper: each print is 8.5 x 11 in. (21.6 x 27.9 cm) Frame: 21.25 x 27.75 in. (54 x 70.5 cm) Edition of 32 "FOREVER examines the history of civil rights martyrs—individuals and communities who were victims of racially motivated violence in the United States yet remain absent from many official systems of remembrance, including the commemorative narratives of U.S. postage stamps. Through this series, Paul Rucker confronts the politics of visibility and erasure, asking who is deemed worthy of national honor, and what forces shape those decisions. By recontextualizing archival absence as a site of artistic intervention, FOREVER challenges viewers to consider how collective memory is constructed, maintained, and selectively forgotten. The works do not simply memorialize the dead; they interrogate the systems that determine which lives are publicly mourned and which are left unmarked. In doing so, the series expands the meaning of commemoration beyond official recognition, asserting remembrance as an active responsibility rather than a passive inheritance. It calls attention to the ongoing consequences of racial violence while insisting on the necessity of confronting historical truth as part of the present. Together, these works form a counter-archive—one that restores presence where history has imposed silenceand insists that remembrance itself is a form of accountability."* The series includes the following individuals and groups. Included in this exhibition are marked with an asterisk. •*Medgar Wiley Evers (June 12, 1963): A civil rights activist and NAACP field secretary in Mississippi, Evers was murdered in his own driveway by a white segregationist. •*Emmett Louis Till (August 28, 1955): A 14-year-old boy brutally beaten and murdered in Mississippi; recent admissions revealed that the testimony used against him was fabricated. •*16th Street Baptist Church Bombing (September 15, 1963): Addie Mae Collins, Denise McNair, Carole Robertson, and Cynthia Wesley were killed when a bomb planted by Ku Klux Klan members exploded at a Birmingham church.  •Viola Fauver Gregg Liuzzo (March 25, 1965): A white activist from Detroit who traveled to Selma to support the Civil Rights Movement, Liuzzo was killed by Ku Klux Klan members in Alabama. •Edwin T. Pratt (January 26, 1969):The Executive Director of the Seattle Urban League, Pratt was shot at his home; the case remains officially unsolved. •The Scottsboro Boys (March 24, 1931): Nine teenagers were arrested on minor charges in Alabama, then wrongfully accused of rape, leading to rushed trials, death sentences, and life in prison. •Freedom Summer Murders (June 21-22, 1964): James Earl Chaney, Andrew Goodman, and Michael "Mickey" Schwerner were murdered in Neshoba County, Mississippi, by a group that included law enforcement and Klan members. •Vernon Ferdinand Dahmer, Sr. (January 11, 1966): An NAACP leader in Hattiesburg, Mississippi, Dahmer died after his home was firebombed by individuals with Klan connections. *Excerpted from the publication “Unfinished Republic: America at 250,” ISBN: 979-8-3507-6518-2, page 32.

FOREVER: Emmett Louis Till, 2026
FOREVER: Four Little Girls, 2026
Perforated postage stamp with dry, water-activated gum adhesive and dextrin, diptych
Paper: each print is 8.5 x 11 in. (21.6 x 27.9 cm)
Frame: 21.25 x 27.75 in. (54 x 70.5 cm)
Edition of 32


"FOREVER examines the history of civil rights martyrs—individuals and communities who were victims of racially motivated violence in the United States yet remain absent from many official systems of remembrance, including the commemorative narratives of U.S. postage stamps. Through this series, Paul Rucker confronts the politics of visibility and erasure, asking who is deemed worthy of national honor, and what forces shape those decisions.

By recontextualizing archival absence as a site of artistic intervention, FOREVER challenges viewers to consider how collective memory is constructed, maintained, and selectively forgotten. The works do not simply memorialize the dead; they interrogate the systems that determine which lives are publicly mourned and which are left unmarked.

In doing so, the series expands the meaning of commemoration beyond official recognition, asserting remembrance as an active responsibility rather than a passive inheritance. It calls attention to the ongoing consequences of racial violence while insisting on the necessity of confronting historical truth as part of the present.

Together, these works form a counter-archive—one that restores presence where history has imposed silenceand insists that remembrance itself is a form of accountability."*

The series includes the following individuals and groups. Included in this exhibition are marked with an asterisk.

•*Medgar Wiley Evers (June 12, 1963): A civil rights activist and NAACP field secretary in Mississippi, Evers was murdered in his own driveway by a white segregationist.

•*Emmett Louis Till (August 28, 1955): A 14-year-old boy brutally beaten and murdered in Mississippi; recent admissions revealed that the testimony used against him was fabricated.

•*16th Street Baptist Church Bombing (September 15, 1963): Addie Mae Collins, Denise McNair, Carole Robertson, and Cynthia Wesley were killed when a bomb planted by Ku Klux Klan members exploded at a Birmingham church. 

•Viola Fauver Gregg Liuzzo (March 25, 1965): A white activist from Detroit who traveled to Selma to support the Civil Rights Movement, Liuzzo was killed by Ku Klux Klan members in Alabama.

•Edwin T. Pratt (January 26, 1969):The Executive Director of the Seattle Urban League, Pratt was shot at his home; the case remains officially unsolved.

•The Scottsboro Boys (March 24, 1931): Nine teenagers were arrested on minor charges in Alabama, then wrongfully accused of rape, leading to rushed trials, death sentences, and life in prison.

•Freedom Summer Murders (June 21-22, 1964): James Earl Chaney, Andrew Goodman, and Michael "Mickey" Schwerner were murdered in Neshoba County, Mississippi, by a group that included law enforcement and Klan members.

•Vernon Ferdinand Dahmer, Sr. (January 11, 1966): An NAACP leader in Hattiesburg, Mississippi, Dahmer died after his home was firebombed by individuals with Klan connections.

*Excerpted from the publication “Unfinished Republic: America at 250,” ISBN: 979-8-3507-6518-2, page 32.

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John Merrick $75, 2026 Archival pigment print on Moab 300GSM paper Paper: 13 x 19 in. (33 x 48.2 cm) Frame: 17.75 x 23.5 in. (45 x 60 cm) Edition of 10 Ruck-1004-C "These works commemorate two historically significant figures connected to America’s Black Wall Streets. One figure honored here is Maggie Lena Walker of Richmond, VA. Born on July 15, 1864, Walker was a businesswoman, teacher, and civic leader who, in 1903, became the first African American woman to charter a bank and the first to serve as a bank president in the United States. Guided by a vision of economic empowerment and self-determination, she worked to create tangible improvements in the lives of African Americans through business, education, and community leadership. Later in life, despite paralysis and the use of a wheelchair, Walker continued her advocacy and public leadership, helping to expand visibility and inclusion for people with disabilities. The second figure honored is John Merrick of Durham, NC. Born into slavery in 1859 in Clinton, North Carolina, Merrick became one of the most influential African American business leaders of his era. He founded several successful enterprises in the Raleigh and Durham region, most notably the North Carolina Mutual Life Insurance Company. Through entrepreneurship and philanthropy, Merrick reinvested in the Black community, advancing economic opportunity, education, and collective progress."* *Excerpted from the publication “Unfinished Republic: America at 250,” ISBN: 979-8-3507-6518-2, page 34.

John Merrick $75, 2026
Archival pigment print on Moab 300GSM paper
Paper: 13 x 19 in. (33 x 48.2 cm)
Frame: 17.75 x 23.5 in. (45 x 60 cm)
Edition of 10
Ruck-1004-C

"These works commemorate two historically significant figures connected to America’s Black Wall Streets.

One figure honored here is Maggie Lena Walker of Richmond, VA. Born on July 15, 1864, Walker was a businesswoman, teacher, and civic leader who, in 1903, became the first African American woman to charter a bank and the first to serve as a bank president in the United States. Guided by a vision of economic empowerment and self-determination, she worked to create tangible improvements in the lives of African Americans through business, education, and community leadership. Later in life, despite paralysis and the use of a wheelchair, Walker continued her advocacy and public leadership, helping to expand visibility and inclusion for people with disabilities.

The second figure honored is John Merrick of Durham, NC. Born into slavery in 1859 in Clinton, North Carolina, Merrick became one of the most influential African American business leaders of his era. He founded several successful enterprises in the Raleigh and Durham region, most notably the North Carolina Mutual Life Insurance Company. Through entrepreneurship and philanthropy, Merrick reinvested in the Black community, advancing economic opportunity, education, and collective progress."*

*Excerpted from the publication “Unfinished Republic: America at 250,” ISBN: 979-8-3507-6518-2, page 34.

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Maggie Walker $300, 2026 Archival pigment print on Moab 300GSM paper Paper: 13 x 19 in. (33 x 48.2 cm) Frame: 17.75 x 23.5 in. (45 x 60 cm) Edition of 10 Ruck-1003-C "These works commemorate two historically significant figures connected to America’s Black Wall Streets. One figure honored here is Maggie Lena Walker of Richmond, VA. Born on July 15, 1864, Walker was a businesswoman, teacher, and civic leader who, in 1903, became the first African American woman to charter a bank and the first to serve as a bank president in the United States. Guided by a vision of economic empowerment and self-determination, she worked to create tangible improvements in the lives of African Americans through business, education, and community leadership. Later in life, despite paralysis and the use of a wheelchair, Walker continued her advocacy and public leadership, helping to expand visibility and inclusion for people with disabilities. The second figure honored is John Merrick of Durham, NC. Born into slavery in 1859 in Clinton, North Carolina, Merrick became one of the most influential African American business leaders of his era. He founded several successful enterprises in the Raleigh and Durham region, most notably the North Carolina Mutual Life Insurance Company. Through entrepreneurship and philanthropy, Merrick reinvested in the Black community, advancing economic opportunity, education, and collective progress."* *Excerpted from the publication “Unfinished Republic: America at 250,” ISBN: 979-8-3507-6518-2, page 34.

Maggie Walker $300, 2026
Archival pigment print on Moab 300GSM paper
Paper: 13 x 19 in. (33 x 48.2 cm)
Frame: 17.75 x 23.5 in. (45 x 60 cm)
Edition of 10
Ruck-1003-C


"These works commemorate two historically significant figures connected to America’s Black Wall Streets.

One figure honored here is Maggie Lena Walker of Richmond, VA. Born on July 15, 1864, Walker was a businesswoman, teacher, and civic leader who, in 1903, became the first African American woman to charter a bank and the first to serve as a bank president in the United States. Guided by a vision of economic empowerment and self-determination, she worked to create tangible improvements in the lives of African Americans through business, education, and community leadership. Later in life, despite paralysis and the use of a wheelchair, Walker continued her advocacy and public leadership, helping to expand visibility and inclusion for people with disabilities.

The second figure honored is John Merrick of Durham, NC. Born into slavery in 1859 in Clinton, North Carolina, Merrick became one of the most influential African American business leaders of his era. He founded several successful enterprises in the Raleigh and Durham region, most notably the North Carolina Mutual Life Insurance Company. Through entrepreneurship and philanthropy, Merrick reinvested in the Black community, advancing economic opportunity, education, and collective progress."*

*Excerpted from the publication “Unfinished Republic: America at 250,” ISBN: 979-8-3507-6518-2, page 34.

Inquire
FOREVER: Medgar Evers, June 12, 1963. Jackson, Mississippi Fujicolor Crystal Archive emulsion sealed between solid recycled aluminum and a high-gloss UV protective laminate 40 x 30 in. (101.6 x 76.2 cm) Edition of 18  "FOREVER examines the history of civil rights martyrs—individuals and communities who were victims of racially motivated violence in the United States yet remain absent from many official systems of remembrance, including the commemorative narratives of U.S. postage stamps. Through this series, Paul Rucker confronts the politics of visibility and erasure, asking who is deemed worthy of national honor, and what forces shape those decisions. By recontextualizing archival absence as a site of artistic intervention, FOREVER challenges viewers to consider how collective memory is constructed, maintained, and selectively forgotten. The works do not simply memorialize the dead; they interrogate the systems that determine which lives are publicly mourned and which are left unmarked. In doing so, the series expands the meaning of commemoration beyond official recognition, asserting remembrance as an active responsibility rather than a passive inheritance. It calls attention to the ongoing consequences of racial violence while insisting on the necessity of confronting historical truth as part of the present. Together, these works form a counter-archive—one that restores presence where history has imposed silenceand insists that remembrance itself is a form of accountability."* The series includes the following individuals and groups. Included in this exhibition are marked with an asterisk. •*Medgar Wiley Evers (June 12, 1963): A civil rights activist and NAACP field secretary in Mississippi, Evers was murdered in his own driveway by a white segregationist. •*Emmett Louis Till (August 28, 1955): A 14-year-old boy brutally beaten and murdered in Mississippi; recent admissions revealed that the testimony used against him was fabricated. •*16th Street Baptist Church Bombing (September 15, 1963): Addie Mae Collins, Denise McNair, Carole Robertson, and Cynthia Wesley were killed when a bomb planted by Ku Klux Klan members exploded at a Birmingham church.  •Viola Fauver Gregg Liuzzo (March 25, 1965): A white activist from Detroit who traveled to Selma to support the Civil Rights Movement, Liuzzo was killed by Ku Klux Klan members in Alabama. •Edwin T. Pratt (January 26, 1969):The Executive Director of the Seattle Urban League, Pratt was shot at his home; the case remains officially unsolved. •The Scottsboro Boys (March 24, 1931): Nine teenagers were arrested on minor charges in Alabama, then wrongfully accused of rape, leading to rushed trials, death sentences, and life in prison. •Freedom Summer Murders (June 21-22, 1964): James Earl Chaney, Andrew Goodman, and Michael "Mickey" Schwerner were murdered in Neshoba County, Mississippi, by a group that included law enforcement and Klan members. •Vernon Ferdinand Dahmer, Sr. (January 11, 1966): An NAACP leader in Hattiesburg, Mississippi, Dahmer died after his home was firebombed by individuals with Klan connections. *Excerpted from the publication “Unfinished Republic: America at 250,” ISBN: 979-8-3507-6518-2, page 32.
FOREVER: Emmett Louis Till, August 28, 1955. Money, Mississippi: Tallahatchie River, 2019 Fujicolor Crystal Archive emulsion sealed between solid recycled aluminum and a high-gloss UV protective laminate 40 x 30 in. (101.6 x 76.2 cm) Edition of 15 
FOREVER: Four Little Girls (Denise McNair), September 15, 1963. Birmingham, Alabama, 2019 Fujicolor Crystal Archive emulsion sealed between solid recycled aluminum and a high-gloss UV protective laminate 40 x 30 in. (101.6 x 76.2 cm) Edition of 15 
FOREVER: Emmett Louis Till, 2026 FOREVER: Four Little Girls, 2026 Perforated postage stamp with dry, water-activated gum adhesive and dextrin, diptych Paper: each print is 8.5 x 11 in. (21.6 x 27.9 cm) Frame: 21.25 x 27.75 in. (54 x 70.5 cm) Edition of 32 "FOREVER examines the history of civil rights martyrs—individuals and communities who were victims of racially motivated violence in the United States yet remain absent from many official systems of remembrance, including the commemorative narratives of U.S. postage stamps. Through this series, Paul Rucker confronts the politics of visibility and erasure, asking who is deemed worthy of national honor, and what forces shape those decisions. By recontextualizing archival absence as a site of artistic intervention, FOREVER challenges viewers to consider how collective memory is constructed, maintained, and selectively forgotten. The works do not simply memorialize the dead; they interrogate the systems that determine which lives are publicly mourned and which are left unmarked. In doing so, the series expands the meaning of commemoration beyond official recognition, asserting remembrance as an active responsibility rather than a passive inheritance. It calls attention to the ongoing consequences of racial violence while insisting on the necessity of confronting historical truth as part of the present. Together, these works form a counter-archive—one that restores presence where history has imposed silenceand insists that remembrance itself is a form of accountability."* The series includes the following individuals and groups. Included in this exhibition are marked with an asterisk. •*Medgar Wiley Evers (June 12, 1963): A civil rights activist and NAACP field secretary in Mississippi, Evers was murdered in his own driveway by a white segregationist. •*Emmett Louis Till (August 28, 1955): A 14-year-old boy brutally beaten and murdered in Mississippi; recent admissions revealed that the testimony used against him was fabricated. •*16th Street Baptist Church Bombing (September 15, 1963): Addie Mae Collins, Denise McNair, Carole Robertson, and Cynthia Wesley were killed when a bomb planted by Ku Klux Klan members exploded at a Birmingham church.  •Viola Fauver Gregg Liuzzo (March 25, 1965): A white activist from Detroit who traveled to Selma to support the Civil Rights Movement, Liuzzo was killed by Ku Klux Klan members in Alabama. •Edwin T. Pratt (January 26, 1969):The Executive Director of the Seattle Urban League, Pratt was shot at his home; the case remains officially unsolved. •The Scottsboro Boys (March 24, 1931): Nine teenagers were arrested on minor charges in Alabama, then wrongfully accused of rape, leading to rushed trials, death sentences, and life in prison. •Freedom Summer Murders (June 21-22, 1964): James Earl Chaney, Andrew Goodman, and Michael "Mickey" Schwerner were murdered in Neshoba County, Mississippi, by a group that included law enforcement and Klan members. •Vernon Ferdinand Dahmer, Sr. (January 11, 1966): An NAACP leader in Hattiesburg, Mississippi, Dahmer died after his home was firebombed by individuals with Klan connections. *Excerpted from the publication “Unfinished Republic: America at 250,” ISBN: 979-8-3507-6518-2, page 32.
John Merrick $75, 2026 Archival pigment print on Moab 300GSM paper Paper: 13 x 19 in. (33 x 48.2 cm) Frame: 17.75 x 23.5 in. (45 x 60 cm) Edition of 10 Ruck-1004-C "These works commemorate two historically significant figures connected to America’s Black Wall Streets. One figure honored here is Maggie Lena Walker of Richmond, VA. Born on July 15, 1864, Walker was a businesswoman, teacher, and civic leader who, in 1903, became the first African American woman to charter a bank and the first to serve as a bank president in the United States. Guided by a vision of economic empowerment and self-determination, she worked to create tangible improvements in the lives of African Americans through business, education, and community leadership. Later in life, despite paralysis and the use of a wheelchair, Walker continued her advocacy and public leadership, helping to expand visibility and inclusion for people with disabilities. The second figure honored is John Merrick of Durham, NC. Born into slavery in 1859 in Clinton, North Carolina, Merrick became one of the most influential African American business leaders of his era. He founded several successful enterprises in the Raleigh and Durham region, most notably the North Carolina Mutual Life Insurance Company. Through entrepreneurship and philanthropy, Merrick reinvested in the Black community, advancing economic opportunity, education, and collective progress."* *Excerpted from the publication “Unfinished Republic: America at 250,” ISBN: 979-8-3507-6518-2, page 34.
Maggie Walker $300, 2026 Archival pigment print on Moab 300GSM paper Paper: 13 x 19 in. (33 x 48.2 cm) Frame: 17.75 x 23.5 in. (45 x 60 cm) Edition of 10 Ruck-1003-C "These works commemorate two historically significant figures connected to America’s Black Wall Streets. One figure honored here is Maggie Lena Walker of Richmond, VA. Born on July 15, 1864, Walker was a businesswoman, teacher, and civic leader who, in 1903, became the first African American woman to charter a bank and the first to serve as a bank president in the United States. Guided by a vision of economic empowerment and self-determination, she worked to create tangible improvements in the lives of African Americans through business, education, and community leadership. Later in life, despite paralysis and the use of a wheelchair, Walker continued her advocacy and public leadership, helping to expand visibility and inclusion for people with disabilities. The second figure honored is John Merrick of Durham, NC. Born into slavery in 1859 in Clinton, North Carolina, Merrick became one of the most influential African American business leaders of his era. He founded several successful enterprises in the Raleigh and Durham region, most notably the North Carolina Mutual Life Insurance Company. Through entrepreneurship and philanthropy, Merrick reinvested in the Black community, advancing economic opportunity, education, and collective progress."* *Excerpted from the publication “Unfinished Republic: America at 250,” ISBN: 979-8-3507-6518-2, page 34.
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