Post Office Mural – Madison FL

Description

The historic post office in Madison, Florida houses an example of New Deal artwork: “Long Staple Cotton,” an oil-on-canvas mural completed by George Snow Hill in 1937. The work was commissioned by the Treasury Section of Fine Arts.

This mural, along with several others under the care of USPS, were covered following complaints about its content in Aug. 2020. Greene Publishing reported on the mural’s getting covered with black plastic:

The painting depicts workers preparing cotton to be bailed [sic] and shipped out. The painting pays tribute to the long staple cotton industry that was the economic engine that drove much of North Florida, including Madison County, in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. According to an article in the Florida Historical Quarterly, Madison was “one of the centers for ginning and shipping of Sea Island cotton in the late 19th century.”

Hill also painted a mural that stands in the Perry, Fla. Post Office depicting workers cutting cypress logs. [This] work has come under fire in recent years because the workers depicted in his paintings are African-Americans.