Symbols of Hope

Children’s Tiles

Shortly after the bombing, Janet Langsam, Director of the Westchester County (New York) Arts Council, and a personal friend of Jackie Jones, former Director of the Arts Council of Oklahoma City, was seeking a way for the children in New York to reach out to the children in Oklahoma City. Her medium became hand painted ceramic tiles painted by “children sending messages of hope and caring to other children.”

Janet Langsam encouraged other cities to join with her in the tile project by contacting the Arts Councils in the nation’s fifty largest cities. She also formed a partnership with the World Organization of China Painters to fire the tiles, making these beautiful messages permanent.

The project spread beyond the original cities encouraged to join, until over 5,000 tiles were produced in cities all over the United States and Canada, with many of them coming from schools in Oklahoma City. The project became more than messages from other children to Oklahoma City; it also became a means of comfort and release for our own children. Representatives from the China Painters and the Arts Council visited dozens of schools in the OKC system assisting the children in expressing their own feelings on the tiles.

The tiles were originally stored and protected by the Arts Council of Oklahoma City. Later, they were transferred to the
Oklahoma City National Memorial Archives for use in the Outdoor Symbolic Memorial and future exhibits and projects
designed to fulfill the Memorial’s Mission Statement.

Colors in the Ribbons

As a way of showing respect, Oklahomans and Americans made ribbons to wear following the bombing. Thousands were sent as gifts to Oklahoma. There was no known official organization spearheading this effort. It was simply a response by people who felt moved to show support.
Blue – statehood
Purple – courage
Yellow – hope
White – innocence