‘Made for A King’ documentary paints a picture of King’s last visit to Macon

Ohio-born artist Kevin “Scene” Lewis’ mural on Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard honors the legacy of the street’s namesake. 

Lewis depicts a portrait of the influential civil rights activist looking onward, flanked by cherry blossoms, an homage to Macon. New Zion Baptist Church floats on a wisp of clouds behind King, commemorating his last visit to the Macon church on March 23, 1968 — just 12 days before his assassination. 

The artwork covers a building facade in the historic Greenwood Bottom neighborhood, two blocks from the church’s original location at 310 Edgewood Ave. The church later relocated to Burton Avenue.

The mural took Lewis a little more than a week to complete in October 2024. A glimpse of his artistic process can be seen in the documentary “Made For A King,” premiering next Friday, March 21, at the Douglass Theatre. 

Lewis, who grew up in Newport News, Virginia, has lived in Macon for five years and been a graffiti artist for roughly 30 years.

Making art that sheds light on history resonates with him and if someone learns something from his art, he considers it a “home run,” he said.

“I do love the interaction with the community — people that are walking up and down the street. They’re appreciative of the artwork going up and trying to make the neighborhood feel better, let alone look better,” Lewis said of his art, which is beginning to stir a resurgence of community pride in Greenwood Bottom.

Lewis’s mural of the late congressman and civil rights leader John Lewis on Watson Boulevard in Warner Robins is what initially drew Asha Ellen, executive director of Keep Macon-Bibb Beautiful, to his work.

Ellen spearheaded both the mural project and the documentary. Her work at the nonprofit focuses on sustainable beautification of Bibb County and is a Keep America Beautiful affiliate.  

Inspired by similar efforts in Jackson, Mississippi and Oakland, California, Ellen applied in 2024 for a grant from Keep America Beautiful to fund the mural project. This was the nonprofit’s second grant in two years.

She recalled driving past Lewis’ mural in Warner Robins one day and U-turning just to get the artist’s name.

While chronicling the mural-making process, Ellen began to think about the broader historical significance. She wanted to produce a documentary not only highlighting the art itself, but King’s final visit to Macon and the current efforts to revitalize Greenwood Bottom.

“The mural is more than just a pretty or beautiful piece of art on the wall,” Ellen said. “It’s an opportunity to revisit the past and have conversations about some of the same issues that still plague us today, over 50 years later.”

Although King made other trips to Macon in his lifetime, she called King’s last visit a “best kept secret.”

By the late ‘60s, King embarked on his Poor People’s Campaign to unite communities against wealth disparities and inequalities, a message Ellen said is still relevant today.

She partnered with Alison Booker and Krista Cook of Wonder Media, a multimedia production company and one of five recipients of this year’s Downtown Diversity Initiative grants.

Booker and Cook, along with others in the nearly all-women production team, got to work in August 2024.

The project spanned seven months and included interviews with community members who were at the church the day King visited. Booker and Cook also visited the local library and researched online.

It was a challenge ensuring the documentary told a story with a lasting impact, Cook said. 

“There are stories out there that matter,” Booker said. “Unless we document them, unless we start talking to each other and really sharing those stories, we’ll lose the history.”

Macon has a rich history residents may not be familiar with, Cook added. She hopes to change that. 

“I want people to leave the premiere feeling like we have a beautiful place to live with beautiful history,” she said.

The documentary is set to premiere at the Douglass Theatre Friday, March 21 at 7 p.m. Pastor Paul Little of Bibb Mount Zion Baptist Church will guide attendees through a community discussion and feedback session after the showing.

The premiere is free, but the showing has already sold out.