Monrovia Officials OK Public Art Piece Honoring Tuskegee Airman

MONROVIA, CA — A new public art piece honoring one of Monrovia's unsung heroes will soon be on display after the City Council gave its unanimous approval Tuesday to spend $15,000 in its creation.

Monrovia's Art in Public Places' Neighborhood Treasures program celebrates the city’s unsung heroes who have made a cultural or historical contribution to the community. Leroy “Buster” Criss was chosen as a recipient of the honor last year, according to Craig Jimenez, the city's community development director.

Criss was one of the first Black Americans to fly for the U.S. military during World War II as a Tuskegee Airman. An embossed metal plaque bearing his likeness will be installed sometime at the end of July in the 200 block of East Maple Avenue, where he lived. A public unveiling ceremony is scheduled for mid-August.

Mayor Tom Adams, who also sits on the Art in Public Places committee, called Criss’ inclusion as a Neighborhood Treasure exciting and “a long time coming.”

Criss was a resident of Monrovia who attended what was then known as Monrovia-Arcadia-Duarte High School in the early 1940s. He took flying lessons at the Monrovia Airport, which ceased operations in 1952, before joining the military in 1943. After the war, Criss taught in high school for nearly 40 years but was unable to teach at his alma mater because of anti-Black prejudice, Jimenez said.

He died in 2008 at the age of 82.

City officials put out a call to local artists earlier this year for design proposals of the Neighborhood Treasures plaque and ultimately received three submissions. The Art in Public Places committee eventually went with a design by Donna Hargett that features that features an illustration of Criss in the foreground and the bomber he flew in the background.

“It was unanimous within two minutes of everyone seeing the different artwork that [Hargett’s proposal] was so outstanding,” Adams said.

The Neighborhood Treasures plaque won’t be the first memorial to Criss in the city. A group of former students at Monrovia High School led an effort to install a plaque on campus in May commemorating the former alumnus’ life and achievements.