Library of Congress Acquires Rodney King Courtroom Sketches

March 3, 2021 by TWN Staff
Library of Congress Acquires Rodney King Courtroom Sketches
Rodney King on the witness stand. Artist: Mary Chaney. (Library of Congress, Prints and Photographs Division)

WASHINGTON – Thirty years ago today, on March 3, 1991, a Los Angeles motorist named Rodney King was severely beaten by four White police officers wielding metal batons, an event that would ultimately seal his place in recent civil rights history. 

This morning, the Library of Congress announced it has acquired the courtroom sketches artist Mary Chaney made at King’s federal and civil trials between 1992 and 1994. 

Chaney, who died of cancer at 77 in 2005, was then one of the nation’s top courtroom artists and she created 269 sketches in all during those legal proceedings. 

“It’s like walking a tightrope without a net,” she told the Los Angeles Times about the pressure she was under. 

Three decades later, Sara Duke, curator of Popular and Applied Graphic Art at the library, said, “The sketches from the federal trial against the police officers for violating Rodney King’s civil rights and his civil lawsuit against the city of Los Angeles stand out as the type the Library should be collecting and making available to researchers.”  

Chaney’s daughter, Lark Ireland, told the library’s María Peña that her mother would have been thrilled to see her artwork added to the Library’s collection of landmark court trials. 

Chaney’s sketches join those of Marilyn Church, Aggie Kenny, Pat Lopez, Arnold Mesches, Gary Myrick, Joseph Papin, Freda Reiter, Bill Robles, David Rose, Jane Rosenberg and Elizabeth Williams among others. 

“It gives me chills, it really does,” Ireland said in a phone interview for a blog post now on the library’s website. “Recognition was not her goal in life, she lived for her art; it was sacred to her.” 

King’s beating — caught on tape by a witness who saw the event unfold from his apartment balcony — shocked the nation because it laid bare the problems of police brutality and racial bias in law enforcement, themes that are still relevant today, Peña writes. 

King’s run-in with police began as fairly routine. He was unarmed but on parole for robbery when police attempted to pull him over, suspecting him of driving under the influence. Instead, he led them on a high-speed chase on I-210. The officers beat him viciously after he was finally stopped. Police log records would later reveal that one of the officers seemingly boasted about his role in the beating. 

The trials against officers Laurence Powell, Timothy Wind, Stacey Koon and Ted Briseno are considered a critical moment in legal history. The acquittal on state criminal charges in 1992 unleashed five days of looting and rioting in Los Angeles, leaving more than 60 dead, thousands injured and about $1 billion in damages. Businesses left in smoldering ruins took years to recover. It became a landmark moment in U.S. culture. 

Chaney did not begin her career in courtrooms, as she started out in commercial art. But cameras are generally forbidden in courtrooms, so sketch artists helped pull back the curtain and catch the essence of significant legal proceedings. At the suggestion of a colleague, she switched from commercial to courtroom art in the mid-1980s. She practiced by sketching her seven children. 

“She was the worst cook in the world, but she was always painting or sketching, and we would be her subjects when she’d try to figure out something,” Ireland recalled in an interview with Peña. 

Disciplined and passionate about her art and social causes, Chaney sketched life in downtown L.A., where her drawings of the homeless later became an exhibit. Her pieces were also exhibited at the Museum of Tolerance in Los Angeles. 

Chaney was “invisible” in the courtroom, but her poignant sketches became prominent, featured on television and on the the covers of major newspapers, magazines and law journals. She had already worked on many high-profile cases by the time the four LAPD police officers were indicted for excessive use of force in arresting King and would go on to document many more. Her career included trials ranging from that of “Night Stalker” Richard Ramirez to “Hollywood Madam” Heidi Fleiss, the Menendez brothers and O.J. Simpson. 

Her work during the King trial shows dozens of indelible moments. On the stand, King described the racial epithets the police officers hurled as they beat, kicked, stomped, tasered and taunted him. When they were done, King had a fractured skull, broken bones and teeth as well as permanent brain damage.  

Others show King up close on the witness stand, pointing to a video clip or describing his arrest for drunken driving. Ireland still remembers an illustration where King was asked to read something in the courtroom and he confessed that he was illiterate.  

Chaney “had quite a passion for civil rights, so when the beating occurred… so many people were horrified about it, as she was,” said Ireland. 

Still, she kept her composure through the testimonies, the grainy video of King’s beating and graphic photos of his injuries. The various trials stretched out, in all, for more than three years. After the officers were acquitted of criminal charges in 1992, she sketched the sentencing of officers Powell and Koon on federal civil rights charges in 1993, as well as the civil trial in which a jury awarded King $3.8 million in damages in 1994. 

King, who had further arrests and convictions for traffic violations after the trials, accidentally drowned in the backyard pool of his home in Rialto, Calif., in 2012. 

Chaney continued drawing all of her life. Even in hospice, Ireland told Peña, when her mother could no longer string words together, she’d sketch. She’d like to be remembered, Ireland said, simply as someone who “showed up and did her job.” 

A+
a-
  • civil rights
  • Lark Ireland
  • Library of Congress
  • Los Angeles
  • Maria Pena
  • Mary Chaney
  • police-involved beating
  • Rodney King
  • Sara Duke
  • In The News

    Health

    Voting

    March 28, 2024
    by Dan McCue
    Silicon Valley-Based Firm Launches ‘Radar as a Service’

    BELMONT, Calif. — At first the idea sounds about as un-Silicon Valley as one can get. After all, the basic... Read More

    BELMONT, Calif. — At first the idea sounds about as un-Silicon Valley as one can get. After all, the basic concept underlying radar was proven in 1886, when a German physicist named Heinrich Hertz showed that radio waves could be reflected from solid objects. And the... Read More

    New Poll Results Show Americans Are Concerned About Political Division and What Can Be Done to Fix It

    As we head into this election year with a likely rematch between two relatively unpopular candidates, it may seem political divisions... Read More

    As we head into this election year with a likely rematch between two relatively unpopular candidates, it may seem political divisions are higher than ever. Many controversial issues like immigration, taxes and debate over foreign aid dominate the news, so much so that many Americans may think... Read More

    March 28, 2024
    by Dan McCue
    Elections Task Force Prosecutes 2020 ‘Vigilantes,’ Seeks More Civic Dialogue

    PHOENIX, Ariz. — A 46-year-old Ohio man has been sentenced to 30 months in prison for sending death threats to... Read More

    PHOENIX, Ariz. — A 46-year-old Ohio man has been sentenced to 30 months in prison for sending death threats to an Arizona election official. The sentencing of Joshua Russell, of Bucyrus, Ohio, came after he pleaded guilty to one count of making a threatening interstate communication.... Read More

    March 28, 2024
    by Tom Ramstack
    Disney World Settles with Florida After Its Opposition to 'Don’t Say Gay' Law

    ORLANDO — The company that runs Walt Disney World reached a settlement Wednesday with appointees of Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis... Read More

    ORLANDO — The company that runs Walt Disney World reached a settlement Wednesday with appointees of Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis who were exerting controversial regulatory control over the huge tourism complex. The settlement resolves some of the disputes that arose after Disney officials publicly denounced the... Read More

    Biden Announcing New Rule to Protect Consumers Who Purchase Short-Term Health Insurance Plans

    President Joe Biden on Thursday announced new steps to protect consumers who buy short-term health insurance plans that critics say amount to junk. A... Read More

    President Joe Biden on Thursday announced new steps to protect consumers who buy short-term health insurance plans that critics say amount to junk. A new rule finalized by the Democratic president's administration will limit these plans to just three months. And the plans can only be renewed for a maximum... Read More

    US Changes How It Categorizes People by Race and Ethnicity. It's the First Revision in 27 Years

    ORLANDO, Fla. (AP) — For the first time in 27 years, the U.S. government is changing how it categorizes people by race and... Read More

    ORLANDO, Fla. (AP) — For the first time in 27 years, the U.S. government is changing how it categorizes people by race and ethnicity, an effort that federal officials believe will more accurately count residents who identify as Hispanic and of Middle Eastern and North African heritage. The revisions... Read More

    News From The Well
    scroll top