The Cincinnati Enquirer

A Cincinnati law firm has donated 14 pieces of art and $250,000 to the National Underground Railroad Freedom Center.

Blank Rome LLP purchased the charcoal paintings from artist Brian Washington, 22, a 1998 Summit Country Day and 2002 Duke University graduate. The works are titled "The Continual Struggle: The Civil Rights Movement - Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow."

Washington plans to attend law school next fall, and is a self-taught artist who clerked at the firm.

"The images are almost dreamlike. Rather than depicting specific events from the civil rights movement, the paintings convey universal themes," he says.