at Talledega College in Alabama. The first of these murals, which consisted of three panels on the west wall of the lobby, commemorates a revolt by Mende slaves which took place on the Spanish slave ship La Amistad. The first panel, entitled The Mutiny Aboard the Amistad, 1839, depicts the melee as the slaves seize control of the ship. The second panel, The Amistad Slaves on Trial at New Haven, Connecticut, 1840, shows the ensuing United Supreme Court Case, United States v. The Amistad. In the third panel, The Return to Africa, 1842, we see the former slaves' later repatriation to Mendiland. The murals are an example of Woodruff's mastery of composition. For example, in the first panel:The power of the combat is accentuated by the figure groups which give the composition its balance and visual stability. The circular motion of the bodies increases the drama of the struggle...The figures are designed in an overlay fashion so that they are seen as one complete unit moving from the left bringing the eye around to the escaping sailor, who reappears in the second panel as the accuser.An image of the ship is embedded in a design in the lobby floor of the library. College tradition prohibits walking "on" the ship, despite its central location. The library has another series of three Woodruff murals exploring events related to the black college's role in African-American history, including freedmen enrolling after the American Civil War and the construction of campus buildings. Woodruff painted two other surviving murals, though these were not frescoes but oil on canvas of monumental size. The Negro in California History--Settlement and Development (1949), was one of two panels commissioned by the Golden State Mutual Life Insurance Company in Los Angeles; the other panel was created by Charles Alston. Woodruff also completed six panels around 1950-1951 called Art of the Negro, now at the Clark Atlanta University Art Galleries. In 1942, even with World War II raging, Woodruff initiated the Atlanta University Art Annuals, an exhibit and competition that was conducted until 1970. These 29 national art exhibitions were a key venue for black artists. In 1946, Woodruff joined the faculty at New York University in Manhattan. He taught there for more than 20 years before retiring in 1968. Malkia Roberts was among his many New York students. During the 1950s Woodruff had three solo exhibition at the Bertha Schaefer Gallery.