CONTROVERSIAL MURALS DEPICTING SLAVERY TO BE REMOVED

MURALS OF SLAVES HARVESTING SUGAR CANE ON A GEORGIA PLANTATION AND PICKING AND GINNING COTTON ARE COMING OFF THE WALLS OF A STATE BUILDING ON THE ORDER OF A NEW AGRICULTURE COMMISSIONER. THE MURALS ARE PART OF A COLLECTION OF EIGHT WORKS PAINTED BY GEORGE BEATTIE IN 1956 DEPICTING AN IDEALIZED VERSION OF GEORGIA FARMING, FROM THE CORN GROWN BY PREHISTORIC AMERICAN INDIANS TO A 20th CENTURY VETERINARY LAB. IN THE DEEP SOUTH, THE HISTORY IN BETWEEN INCLUDES THE FORCED USE OF SLAVE LABOR. 'I DON'T LIKE THOSE PAINTINGS', SAID REPUBLICAN GARY BLACK, THE NEWLY ELECTED AGRICULTURE COMMISSIONER. 'THERE ARE A LOT OF OTHER PEOPLE WHO DON'T LIKE THEM.' SLAVERY WAS INDISPUTABLY PART OF 19th CENTURY FARMING IN GEORGIA. BY 1840, MORE THAN 280,000 SLAVES WERE LIVING IN THE STATE, MANY AS FIELD HANDS. JUST BEFORE THE CIVIL WAR, SLAVES MADE UP ABOUT 40% OF THE STATE'S POPULATION. BEATTIE'S MURALS TELL PART OF THE STORY. IN ONE PAINTING, TWO WELL-DRESSED WHITE GENTLEMEN IN TOP HATS AND DRESS COATS LEISURELY INSPECT PROCESSED COTTON. THEY'RE FRAMED ON EITHER SIDE BY BLACK SLAVES DOING THE WORK OF COTTON FARMING. ON THE LEFT, A SLAVE HUNCHES OVER TO PICK COTTON BALLS BY HAND. TWO OTHER SLAVES ARE USING THE INFAMOUS WHITNEY GIN, INVENTED NEAR SAVANNAH, TO SEPARATE COTTON FIBER FROM SEEDS AS A WHITE OVERSEER WEIGHS COTTON BAGS BEHIND THEM. 'I THINK WE CAN DEPICT A BETTER PICTURE OF AGRICULTURE', BLACK SAID. BLACK SAID LESS CONTROVERSIAL MURALS, A SCENE AT A STATE FARMERS MARKET, FOR EXAMPLE, MAY FIND A NEW HOME IN A CONFERENCE ROOM OR ELSEWHERE IN THE BUILDING. FEW HAVE OPENLY PROTESTED THE MURALS, MAYBE BECAUSE THE AGRICULTURE DEPARTMENT IS NOT HEAVILY VISITED. A FULL CENTURY AFTER THE CIVIL WAS, SOUTHERNERS STILL ARGUE OVER HOW TO HANDLE POTENT SYMBOLS OF SLAVERY AND SEGREGATION IN PUBLIC PLACE. IT'S NOTHING NEW. THE SAME YEAR BEATTIE FINISHED THE MURALS, STATE LAWMAKERS PUT THE CONFEDERATE BATTLE FLAG BACK INTO GEORGIA'S STATE FLAG TO PROTEST INTEGRATION. ONLY IN 2001 DID GOV ROY BARNES REPLACE IT, AND SOME SAY IT COST HIM THE ELECTION THE FOLLOWING YEAR. IN 1995, TWO YEARS BEFORE HE DIED, BEATTIE DEFENDED HIS MURALS IN A DEPARTMENT-SPONSORED ARTICLE THAT MENTIONED THE ART HAD SPURRED DEBATE AND CONCERN AMONG VISITORS AND EMPLOYEES. 'AS A HUMAN BEING, I AM VEHEMENTLY OPPOSED TO SLAVERY, AS ANYONE SHOULD BE', BEATTIE SAID, 'BUT IT WAS A SIGNIFICANT EPOCH IN OUR HISTORY; IT WOULD HAVE BEEN INACCURATE NOT TO INCLUDE THIS PERIOD.'