Missing portrait of King sought for new MLK school

By Harold Gwin

The portrait disappeared when the school was cleaned out before its demolition.

YOUNGSTOWN — What happened to the portrait of Martin Luther King Jr. that once graced the halls of the former elementary school named in his honor?

The city school district and the local chapter of the A. Philip Randolph Institute want to know.

The consensus seems to be that someone took it when the building on Covington Avenue was being emptied in preparation for its demolition last year.

There is a new Martin Luther King Jr. Elementary School in the city now.

The school board renamed the new North Elementary on Mariner Avenue after the famed civil rights leader when it opened last September, but an important item was missing from the ribbon-cutting ceremony, said Arlette Gatewood, treasurer of the local chapter of the A. Philip Randolph Institute, which had lobbied the city school board for the school name change.

The portrait of King by local artist Bill Dotson, placed in the old school when its name was changed from Covington School to Martin Luther King Jr. Elementary in 1986, was not there, Gatewood said.

The Vindicator ran a photo of Dotson presenting the portrait during Sept. 12, 1986, rededication ceremonies.

School personnel should have taken care of that portrait, Gatewood said, suggesting that someone took it and should bring it back. The school district should file a theft report with authorities, launch an investigation and seek to recover it, he said.

The district did launch an investigation and even offered a reward for its return but has had no success, said Superintendent Wendy Webb.

She assured Gatewood that the district will prosecute whoever took it, if the portrait is ever found.

In the meantime, the superintendent said she has done the next best thing she could, personally contacting Dotson, who now lives in Las Vegas, and commissioning him to do another portrait showing King in the same pensive pose as the original.

The new portrait, significantly larger than the original, will be officially unveiled at a community night program to be scheduled soon at Martin Luther King Elementary School, she said.

Dotson, a Youngstown native and graduate of The Rayen School, is currently serving as the first artist-in-residence at the Butler Institute of American Art, working on a portrait of President Barack Obama.

The A. Philip Randolph Institute is named for the late civil rights and labor leader, A. Philip Randolph, who died in 1979.

gwin@vindy.com