Past Lessons Become Future Blessings 

If you’ve driven down 16th Street in North Lawndale lately, you may have noticed a striking new mosaic mural brightening the corner of 16th and Ridgeway. The colorful artwork, which wraps around the facade of Del-Kar Drugs, Inc. — a neighborhood pharmacy that’s been serving the community since 1960 — is a vivid tribute to the people and history that made this stretch of the West Side so storied.

When I stopped by Del-Kar on Oct. 31 to speak with owner Edwin Muldrow, the longtime pharmacist began pulling out framed photos and newspaper clippings as we talked, pieces of history that, like the mural outside, tell a story about the heart of 16th Street.

“Done about two summers ago, the artwork was provided by the Green Star Movement,” Muldrow said, referring to the Chicago nonprofit that brings students and volunteers together to create large-scale public mosaics. “[Program Director] Jordan Taggart and his people did it, and they used students for the summer and had different corporations come out for community days. It was funded by Amazon and the Ferrara Family Foundation.”

At first, Muldrow said, he was just happy to have a mural. But as he got involved in the creative process, he began to see an opportunity to make it deeply personal.

“I said, ‘I got an old picture of the store, why don’t we use that as inspiration?’” he recalled. “The reason Martin Luther King is on there is because he would come in here and shop when he lived on Hamlin. Sammy Davis Jr. is on there because he had his business, Symone — it was his version of Mary Kay or Avon, giving Black women an opportunity to become entrepreneurs. Then up top, I used Fred Hampton Jr., because the very first Black Panther headquarters was on 16th and Hamlin. So I was paying homage.”

At the mural’s base are Muldrow’s parents, immortalized in tile.

“That’s my father, and the woman behind him is my mama,” he said proudly. “We’ve been in business since 1960, when my dad [Edwin Muldrow, Jr.] started on the corner of Douglas and Homan. We’ve been on this corner since 1964 — we were here before and after the riots following King’s assassination.”

The building that houses Del-Kar Drugs itself holds deep neighborhood history. Muldrow said the building once served as the original Vice Lords headquarters, a reminder of how the block has long been intertwined with the social, political, and cultural forces that shaped Lawndale.

“My dad used to say 16th Street is the heart and soul of North Lawndale. All that stuff — the Vice Lords, the Panthers, King, Sammy Davis — it all happened right here,” Muldrow said.

The mural, titled “Past Lessons Become Future Blessings,” was created over about nine months in 2023 by Green Star Movement and a group of youth volunteers.

“Green Star’s work is deeply rooted in preserving the rich history of our diverse communities, so it was incredibly fulfilling to weave those historic photographs and stories into the mosaic,” said Kamelia Hristeva, Green Star’s founder and chief executive officer, in an interview with the Chicago Sun-Times. “Each image had its own story to tell, and it felt like we were not only creating art but also honoring the legacy of the neighborhood.”