A sweeping wave carries you through Salem’s full story: from the Naumkeag people who
first fished these shores, through the abolitionists, immigrants, and changemakers who
built this city, to the students living that history today. Rendered in the vibrant language
of stained glass, every face in this mural belongs to this community. It doesn’t conclude
the story.
As pictured:
1. Naumkeag woman gathering seaweed and shellfish
2. Naumkeag men fishing the shallows with nets. Naumkeag may mean “fishing place” or “eel
land”
3. Naumkeag in a canoe
4. A home in the Naumkeag village
5. Salem State science student
6. Salem State professor
7. Charlotte Forten, who integrated Salem State and became its first African American graduate
in 1856
8. Salem lighthouse at Fort Pickering
9. Charles Lenox Remond, American orator and activist who campaigned for abolition
10. Sarah Parker Remond, suffragette and abolitionist who became an international human
rights activist
11. The Big Dipper, used as a navigation tool and here representing the Underground Railroad
12. Fishing. Salemites went out to catch cod. While more of a port than a fishing wharf, the city
maintained a fishing trade, connecting visually with the Naumkeag fishermen
13. A tall ship, representing both early immigration and the role of ships in commerce and
fishing. Shipping was the heart of Salem’s economy until vessels grew too large for the harbor,
which was never dredged deeper
14. Salem State art student. She wears Native earrings, showing the continued presence of
Indigenous people
15. Fort Salem
16. Salem State graduate
17. Salem State baseball player
18. Salem State mascot
19. Naumkeag Steam Cotton Factory, once the largest steam-powered factory in the country
20. A figure representing the waves of 19th and 20th century immigration. The Irish arrived first,
followed by French
Canadians who came to Salem for factory work
21. John Proctor, who stood up against the witch trials until he was accused and executed
himself
22. Roger Conant, founder of Salem
23. The cross cut from the Massachusetts Bay Colony flag by John Endicott, representing the
separation of church and state
24. The Witch House, one of the oldest surviving buildings in Salem
25. Nathaniel Hawthorne
26. Salem students
27. Salem students
28. Salem State professor
29. Operation Bootstrap, part of the plan to industrialize Puerto Rico by encouraging mass
migration. This marks the beginning of Salem’s Caribbean population. Note the figures traveling
by plane and lawn chair
30. Hibiscus flowers
31. Nathaniel Bowditch, mathematician credited with founding modern nautical navigation
32. John Carnes, whose ship successfully returned from China with pepper. Shipping created
great wealth for Salem