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EDEN These days, Eden's Leaksville Commercial Historic District offers a lot for people to talk about as they shop. A recently unveiled public piece of art seen by some as a way to pay homage to the earliest black business people is viewed as offensive by others.

Does this mural celebrate the wrong kind of history? Join the discussion at the Debatables blog.

"I think it's degrading to black folk," said Floyd Steele, owner of a barber and beauty shop in the city in Leaksville.

The 36-foot mural depicts black men directing bateau traffic along the Dan River in the 1800s. Many of the men who guided the traffic were slaves and free blacks, according to local historian Lindley Butler. Those boatmen are considered to be the roots of entrepreneurship in the black community, Butler said.

But Steele and others say the mural looks more like a snapshot from slavery days. He points to the black men directing the boat traffic, while a third man who appears to be white is sitting down playing a banjo.

"I don't see business owners up there rowing a boat," Steele said while looking at the mural Thursday morning. "I think they're being told what to do."

Mural opponents also point to another scene where a young white child is tugging on the apron of a black girl with a scarf covering her head, giving the impression that she is the child's nanny.

Steele said the mural takes him back to the days when blacks had few rights. "This is just a reminder of the whole thing to me," he said.

The mural was unveiled in November as part of the Bricolage Arts Festival, a Piedmont Triad event that brought artists from different areas together to create new artwork. Since then, business owner Elretha Perkins said she has received more than 100 complaints, including some from young people. "They don't like what they see," said Perkins, who owns a day care on Lawson Street.

Mike Dougherty, Eden's director of business development, said the mural was never intended to be degrading to blacks, but rather to be inclusive. "The whole purpose here was to honor them for what they did to help build the commerce in this community," said Dougherty, who worked on the grant proposal for the art project.

Dougherty, as well as Eden Mayor John Grogan, Butler and mural artist Kitty Williams, have met with community members who would like to see the mural modified or replaced.

The city plans to add a component to the mural to explain it, Dougherty said. Dougherty said he has spoken to some members of the black community who once they learn more about the intent behind the mural have little if any complaints about it. For instance, he said, the man pictured playing the banjo is a minstrel a symbol of Eden's musical heritage.

Malcolm Allen, president of the Eden chapter of the NAACP, said he is pleased with the mural. Allen and Dougherty said the mural also has the support of the Eden Minority Business Association. Although the mural was completed in near secrecy as dictated by Bricolage, Dougherty said both groups were consulted during the planning process.

"We were involved in it, and ... some of the people complaining, if they were active in some of these organizations, they would know what's going on," Allen said.

"I raised an eyebrow when I first saw it," said Bobby Gilley, owner of Creative Expressions Florist in the Leaksville District.

Gilley said he knew immediately that it might cause a problem. "I think it gives a wrong statement," said Gilley, adding that he doesn't think it was done intentionally.

Larry Nance Sr. has seen the mural dozens of times but stopped Thursday to take a good, hard look.

"I can't see it, I just can't see it," Nance said of the complaints. "This is all history. We can never change this as long as we live."

Allen agrees. He said the mural appropriately depicts the times and shows that blacks played a major role in the building of Rockingham County.

"You don't change history. You study history and then you learn from history," he said. "We're not finished, and we have a long ways to go, but we should always hold our head up as a people and be proud of our past and where we come from."

Contact Jonnelle Davis at 627-4881, Ext. 126, or jonnelle.davis@news-record.com