Etheridge Knight: Bicentennial Legends Mural

The Chatterbox jazz club on Mass Ave is the site of a new mural of Black Arts Movement poet Etheridge Knight, Jr. (1931-1991). Knight, who wrote his first book of poetry while incarcerated in the Indiana State Prison in Michigan City in the 1960s, was a regular at the Chatterbox in the late 1980s and taught some of his legendary Free People’s Poetry Workshops there.
The two-story outdoor mural, created by artist Elio Mercado, with assistance from Kaila Austin, was unveiled in June 2023.
Indy Arts Council partnered with Butler University’s Etheridge Knight Archive, the EK Free Peoples Be Project, and the Knight family to create the mural.
Key funding is provided by the City of Indianapolis, the Indianapolis Bicentennial Commission, Indiana Destination Development Corporation, Glick Philanthropies, the National Endowment for the Arts, and the MIBOR Economic and Community Development Council.
Video production by Benjy Rose.