Artist John Mavroudis Celebrates Black History Month With Illustration Every Day in February On Social Media

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You can’t separate peace from freedom because no one can be at peace unless he has his freedom. –Malcolm X

In case you haven’t noticed, Artist John Mavroudis, whose work includes 24 Moonalice posters, is celebrating Black History Month by posting his original illustrations with key Civil Rights figures every day for the month of February. The drawings are from his “For The Ages” Obama poster based on his cover for The Nation 2009, Obama Inauguration issue pictured below.

We had a chance to speak with John whose motivation to repost the images came after re-reading some of the stories from the Civil Rights figures. In an ideal world, John would like to publish a book with a page each for the figures with an illustration and a short bio to show why they are significant in history. Mr. Mavroudis believes it would make a great teaching tool for so many (like me) who had only heard of the most well-know figures, like Martin Luther King, Malcolm X, Rosa Parks, etc. while there are so many great people who contributed to the cause of freedom and justice but somehow get lost in the education system.

February 2th, 2016

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Power concedes nothings without a demand. It never did and it never will. –Frederick Douglass

The book is still in the planning stages (John still needs to find a publisher), but in the meantime he was struck by some of the quotes from these people and thought Black History Month would be a perfect time to highlight 29 figures (one a day) with a particular quote that struck him. You can follow John’s work each day in February on twitter, instagram, or facebook.

February 3th, 2016

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To be afraid is to behave as it the truth were not true. –Bayard Rustin

For fans who would like to own a physical copy of this art, John is selling the poster (pictured below) through his website www.zenpop.com for only $20 each. It also comes with a key of all the figures in the illustration too.

February 4th, 2016

https://twitter.com/ZenPopArt/status/695281548967280640

I am only a mouthpiece through which to tell the story of lynching and I have told it so often that I know it by heart. I do not have to embellish. It makes its own way. –Ida B. Wells

February 5th, 2016

https://twitter.com/ZenPopArt/status/695681749183901697

A child born to a black mother is a state like Mississippi… has exactly the same rights as a white baby born to the wealthiest person in the United States. It’s not true, but I challenge anyone to say it is not a goal worth working for –Thurgood Marshall

February 6th, 2016

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“The ultimate measure of a man is not where he stands in moments of comfort and convenience, but where he stands at times of challenge and controversy.” – Martin Luther King Jr.

February 7th, 2016

“Every great dream begins with a dreamer. Always remember, you have within you the strength, the patience, and the passion to reach for the stars to
change the world.” – Harriet Tubman

February 8th, 2016

https://twitter.com/ZenPopArt/status/696770967062728704
“People do not choose rebellion; it is forced upon them. Revolution is always an act of self-defense.” – C.T. Vivian

February 9th, 2016

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“Justice is never given; it is exacted and the struggle must be continuous for freedom is never a final fact, but a continuing evolving process…” – A. Philip Randolph

February 10th, 2016

“If the first woman god ever made was strong enough to turn the world upside down all alone, these women together ought to be able to turn it back, and get it right side up again! And now they is asking to do it, the men better let them.” – Sojourner Truth

February 11th, 2016

“Either America will destroy ignorance or ignorance will destroy America.” –W.E.B. Du Bois

“Now is the accepted time, not tomorrow, not some more convenient season. It is today that our best work can be done and not some future day or future year…” –W.E.B. Du Bois

February 12th, 2016

“Confrontation is not bad. Goodness is supposed to confront evil.” – Fred Shuttlesworth

February 13th, 2016

“Bring on your tear gas, bring on your grenades, your new supplies of mace, your state troopers and even your national guards. But let the record show we ain’t going to be turned around.” – Ralph Abernathy

February 14th, 2016

“The emotional, sexual, and psychological stereotyping of females begins when the doctor says: “It’s a Girl.” – Shirley Chisholm

February 15th, 2016

“Egotism is the anesthetic that dulls the pain of stupidity” – Booker T. Washington

February 16th, 2016

“I have fought too hard and too long against discrimination based on race and color not to stand up against discrimination based on sexual orientation.” – John Lewis

February 17th, 2016

“Liberate the minds of men and ultimately you will liberate the bodies of men.” – Marcus Garvey

February 18th, 2016

“The horrors of the block, as looked upon through the light of the daily heart-breaking separations it was causing to the oppressed, no pen could describe or mind imagine…” – William Still

February 19th, 2016

Samuel Burris His connections with the underground railroad. Cost him not only imprisonment and the most barbarous treatment but likewise the loss of his freedom. He was sold on the auction block.

February 20th, 2016

“Not everything that is face can be changed, but nothing can be changed until it is faced.” – James Baldwin

February 21st, 2016

“We ask for nothing that is not right, and herein lies the great power of our demand.” – Paul Robeson

February 22nd, 2016

“I made up my mind that if I got through this war I would study law and use my time fighting for men who could not strike back.” – Charles Hamilton Houston

February 23rd, 2016

“Our elevation must be the result of self-efforts and work of our own hands. No other human power can accomplish it. If we but determine it shall be so, it will be so.” – Martin Delany

February 24th, 2016

“Nobody’s Free Until Everybody’s Free.” – Fannie Lou Hamer

February 25th, 2016

“What happens to a dream deferred? Does it dry up like a raisin in the sun?… or does it explode?” – Langston Hughes

“I swear to the lord, I still can’t see, why democracy means everybody but me.” – Langston Hughes

February 26th, 2016

“Our grandfathers had to run, tun , run. My generation’s out of breath. We ain’t running no more.” – Kwame Ture (Stokely Carmichael)

February 27th, 2016

“Oh, I was threatened before, during and after. You know, I think I was threatened the day I was born. But yet and still, you can’t stop your life and stop trying to make it a better life for all people for merely having threats put upon your life.” – Tommie Smith & John Carlos

February 28th, 2016

“Slavery is dead, but the spirit which animated it still lives.” – Frances Harper

February 29th, 2016

“And I knew that it was better to live out one’s absurdity than to die for that of others.” – Ralph Ellison

“Poor conceited humanity! Interpreters of God indeed.” – Paul Laurence Dunbar

All Americans should honor the sacrifices made by so many in the struggle to achieve equality. Restore the Voting Rights Act