THE HISTORY OF AFRICAN-AMERICANS & ROLLER-SKATING
Ever wonder who invented roller-skating? Or how it came to be so revered within black culture?
Watch "Once Upon A Roller-Skate" to see how roller-skating and roller-rinks intersects history over 200 years in this eleven-minute poetic narrative that ties together the evolution of black culture from a fresh perspective.
HARLEM'S FIRST ROLLER-SKATE MURAL: FINISHED JUNE 25, 2021
Artist and Museum Founding Director Jocelyn Marie Goode designed and painted Harlem's first roller-skate mural in June 2021.
This video shows snippets of how the painting came to be. It started with a photograph she took, which she then used as the basis for a digital illustration. Using the traditional method of gridding, she transferred and outlined the design by hand on the wooden panels surrounding a vacant lot on 125th St., and then painted it in.
The mural was just one of several murals by over 100 of NYC's premiere artists, that went up in the month of June as part of the "Central Grand Mural Project" sponsored by Uptown Grand Central.
You can visit the mural today. It is located on 124th St, between Lexington and Third Avenues.