(This is a hastily mounted information. The layout is probably not great for all screen sizes. Scroll down for a video and slideshow.)

History of the Hand

The Hand is a metal sculpture approximately 12 foot high by 5 foot wide, created by artist Jim Fauntleroy in 1968 and commissioned by Southern Christian Leadership Conference associate and former Takoma, DC resident, Vincent de Forest for the Poor People’s Campaign. It was to be exhibited on the National Mall during the summer of 1968 and as a traveling exhibit. The piece was intended to sit on the National Mall during the Campaign in the temporary Resurrection City encampment and to be surrounded by mural panels depicting the movement with expression from the participants of their personal struggles. According to the Washington Post, it was intended to “have pointed symbolically to the Capitol.”2007 History from the Takoma Voice

Click for PDF “The Hand” by Diana Kohn, Takoma Voice, 2007

2016 Overview and Video

The following report and video were done by the OTBA in 2016 when there was an effort to move The Hand back to Takoma. The library had been sold to Apple Computer and the sculpture needed a new home.

Click for PDF: Overview of History of the Hand

Video of interviews on The Hand with long time neighborhood leaders:

Slideshow of Mockups in the Triangle Park and the Blair and Fourth Intersection

At the same time the video was being made, a group of neighbors made a cardboard mock-up of the sculpture to the size of the original. It was photographed in various positions that had been suggested for installation. The photos were not taken with a professional quality camera so the perspective is distorted in some of them.

If the entire image doesn’t fit on your screen scroll down until you see the caption under the photo. Roll cursor over the photo to pause the slide show.