Santa Clara County Office of Education‘s Sunol Community Day School has worked in partnership with SV Creates to guide students through collaborative processes to create murals that explore social justice themes. Students have created murals with themes such as racial justice, the COVID-19 pandemic and essential workers, immigrant rights, and the wrongfully incarcerated. These murals not only provide a platform for their voice and expression but also allow for a sense of accomplishment and pride in this visual representation of an important social justice issue they can relate to.

Abolish Ice
This mural was designed by students from South County Community School. Mostly students from Morgan Hill and Gilroy, they have strong ties to migrant workers and families. Migrant workers travel the country to pick fruits and vegetables when in season from California to the East. The artists wanted to honor migrant workers. Migrant workers did not stop working during the COVID-19 pandemic. This challenging work became even more dangerous during the pandemic. In the piece you can see images of the workers, a set of rising fists in many shades and ‘your voice matters’. This piece was used to promote participation in the census and voter registration for youth.

Key Vocabulary
Census: an official count or survey of a population, typically recording various details of individuals.
Migrant Worker:a person who moves to another country or area in order to find employment, in particular seasonal or temporary work.
Pandemic: (of a disease) prevalent over a whole country or the world.

Suffrage Centennial 
Women’s suffrage, the legal right of women to vote, was established nationally in the United States with the passage of the 19th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution in August 1920. The artists who designed this piece wanted to celebrate the 100 year anniversary of women having the right to vote. In the same year, they wanted to show, the world was experiencing the challenge of the pandemic and racial tensions. Honored in this mural are women suffragettes, migrant laborers, and African American civil rights heroes.

Key Vocabulary
Centennial: 100 year anniversary.
Suffrage: the right to vote.
Suffragette: women fighting for the right to vote in the late 1800s and early 1900s.

First Responders
The title of this piece honors those who fought for attention to the challenges of their people in many different ways. On the football field players chose to draw attention to inequities by taking a knee during the national anthem. In communities across the country, citizens took to the streets to protest unfair treatment from the police and justice system. In hospitals, nurses continue to put themselves at risk daily to support those in need. This mural captures the tension our nation experienced in 2020 following the death of George Floyd. The COVID-19 pandemic, shelter-in-place, and protests against police violence all contributed to this tense time period.

Key Vocabulary
First Responder: someone designated or trained to respond to an emergency.
Shelter-in-place: the act of seeking safety within the building one already occupies.
Tension:mental or emotional strain.

Healers
This piece features a collage of civil rights leaders. Racial healing takes many forms. Some participate in protest. Some leaders fight for justice through direct action. Some create art.
Pictured here is Mahatma Gandhi. He used non-violent protest to win the independence for the people of India from the British Empire. Following in his footstep,Rosa Parks and Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. used non-violence to fight for civil rights for African-Americans in the United States.
During their medal ceremony in the Olympic Stadium in Mexico City on October 16, 1968, two African-American athletes, Tommie Smith and John Carlos, each raised a black-gloved fist during the playing of the US national anthem, “The Star-Spangled Banner”.
Cesar Chavez worked tirelessly to bring attention and fair pay and working conditions to farm workers. 

Key Vocabulary
Non-Violence: the use of peaceful means, not force, to bring about political or social change.

Frida Kahlo
This piece features a collage of civil rights leaders. Racial healing takes many forms. Some participate in protest. Some leaders fight for justice through direct action. Some create art.
Pictured here is Mahatma Gandhi. He used non-violent protest to win the independence for the people of India from the British Empire. Following in his footstep,Rosa Parks and Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. used non-violence to fight for civil rights for African-Americans in the United States.
During their medal ceremony in the Olympic Stadium in Mexico City on October 16, 1968, two African-American athletes, Tommie Smith and John Carlos, each raised a black-gloved fist during the playing of the US national anthem, “The Star-Spangled Banner”.
Cesar Chavez worked tirelessly to bring attention and fair pay and working conditions to farm workers. 

Key Vocabulary
Identity: the characteristics determining who or what a person or thing is.
Class: the system of ordering a society in which people are divided into sets based on perceived social or economic status.