We The Youth

A 1987 mural, a cross-city friendship — and a legacy that’s still unfolding.In September 1987, Keith Haring brought a group of young New Yorkers from CityKids to Philadelphia, where they worked alongside kids from the Point Breeze community and the Brandywine Workshop to paint “We The Youth” — a mural built from dozens of hands and one shared belief: that art is strongest when it’s made together.

 

Nearly forty years later, the mural has been granted historic landmark status, protecting it for generations to come. It’s a milestone we’re proud to have been part of from the very beginning, and a reminder of what Keith always believed: that art is strongest when it’s made together.​​​​This fall, Haring and CityKids’ Philadelphia story kept growing. A full-scale replica of “CityKids Speak on Liberty” — the 1986 banner born from a cold call between CityKids founder Laurie Meadoff and Keith Haring, now known as The People’s Masterpiece — stood on the grounds of the Please Touch Museum as part of Philly Fair 250, presented by Independence Blue Cross, in partnership with Mural Arts Philadelphia. The setting carried its own history: the museum occupies Memorial Hall, one of the few buildings still standing from the 1876 Centennial Exposition, where the arm and torch of the Statue of Liberty were once displayed before the statue was fully assembled in New York Harbor. Visitors explored the piece through a scavenger hunt, discovering the symbols and messages that more than 1,000 young people wrote into it nearly 40 years ago. Thank you to Mural Arts Philadelphia for hosting us and helping this story reach a new audience. (Photos by @colibriworks.)