African Americans and the Arts
Every Black History Month, the Association for the Study of African American Life and History (ASALH) picks a theme to focus on. The theme for 2024 is African Americans and the Arts. African American artists have used art to preserve history and community memory, and as a form of empowerment. We honor the African American artists from the past who endured and paved a way and the artists in the present who continue using their voice in a creative medium.
The LMCC wants to highlight several African American artists of varying medias throughout the year because Black History is important all year. This blog post is the second in a two part series where we feature multiple artists centering around ASALH’s theme. Additionally, we also highlight one or two artists each month of 2024 from this blog on our social media pages.
Alyne Harris
Alyne Harris is a folk artist native to Gainesville, FL and is a distant relative to sculptor Jesse Aaron (A sculptor and wood carver. Aaron began his path of creating art when he was in his early 80s. He rapidly gained recognition, earning a Visual Arts Fellowship from the National Endowment for the Arts). She grew up in the country and always remembers drawing in the dirt and sand. Nature is a key aspect of her art as it is something she loves. Birds and trees particularly are what she enjoys painting from nature. Her artwork overall is described by viewers as embracing the spirit of imagination.
Painting is a way for her to keep in touch with herself and her memories and share that with others. Harris includes themes heavily based on African American culture by depicting traditions and history with depictions of slaves and lost loved ones. For example, her artwork below is one of many that depict the African American wedding tradition of Jumping the Broom. The origins of Jumping the Broom are debated but it originates from Ghana in which the broom held spiritual value and symbolized sweeping away past wrongs or removing evil spirits. Jumping over the broom also symbolized commitment of the wife to clean and overall commitment to the house. Whoever jumped the highest, would be the decision-maker. The tradition continued in America as a remnant of the African culture that endured during slavery.
Rodney L Hurst Sr.
Rodney L Hurst Sr. is a writer and civil rights activist in Jacksonville, FL. He was eleven years old when he accepted his American History teacher’s invitation to join the Jacksonville Youth Council NAACP and he was 16 when he was president of it and helped to lead sit-ins. Hurst is active in his community in which he served on the Jacksonville City Council and is a member of many boards and agencies as well. Hurst has written a total of four books, all dealing with racism and civil rights in his local area.
Hurst’s first book, “It was never about a hot dog and a Coke®!", tells of his personal account of Ax Handle Saturday along with an informative insight on Jacksonville during the 1950s and 1960s. Rodney Hurst tells of his account protesting during Ax Handle Saturday and running from the scene. A woman picked him up in her car and drove him to safety at a nearby church.
“Unless WE Tell It…It Never Gets Told!" is Hurst's second book that tells stories about Jacksonville's Black History and Civil Rights History. His third book, "Never Forget Who You Are: Conversations about Racism and Identity Development," co-authored with Dr. Rudy F. Jamison Jr., discusses Racism and identity development as seen through their eyes. The fourth book, "Black and Brilliant," is a young adult book based on his first book.
Mildred Thompson
Mildred Thompson was an artist described as being ahead of her time and someone who did not stick to one medium. She was born in Jacksonville, Florida and left the state for university where she received her first formal art training with Howard University. She returned briefly to the state for a summer teaching job at Florida A&M University in Tallahassee. With the money from this job, she traveled to Europe gaining experience and inspiration from German art. She took this time to focus on incorporating wood in her art. Thompson set up a studio in West Germany after she went back to Germany in 1963 as she felt more accepted there compared to the discrimination and hardships she faced while pursuing her art in New York.
Thompson’s work is vibrant and abstract as she experimented with different forms and ideas in her art. When faced with criticism about her art not being symbolic enough or meeting societal standards, she proclaimed that “Everything I touch will be part Black and female.”
Ruby C. Williams
Ruby C. Williams was a folk artist from Bealsville, FL which is a community formed in 1865 by 12 newly freed slaves, one of which being her great-great-grandmother, Mary Reddick. Williams moved to New Jersey where she became a minister for 25 years. She prided herself in helping children find their way. She then returned to Bealsville to help with her family’s farm land. It was then that she started her art career by creating colorful posters for a produce stand. This garnered attention from a fellow artist, who encouraged her to pursue art further. Williams’ art appeal lies in its colorful nature, bold and cartoonish depictions of animals and fruits, and slogans where she is known to speak her mind and/or pass down wisdom.
In 2005, she was included in “On Their Own: Selected Works by Self-Taught African American Artists” at the Smithsonian’s Anacostia Community Museum in Washington and she received the Florida Folk Heritage Award, which recognizes “outstanding stewardship of Florida’s living traditions.”
Examples of Ruby C. Williams’ art.
Purvis Young
Purvis Young was a Miami based artist from Overtown whose art covered many topics. His art reflects the multi-culturalism of his hometown. While his art does touch on African American experiences in the south, it also expresses the universality of humanity by incorporating the many cultures and people he grew up around and encountered while living in Miami. His art focuses on good people, the heroes, in which he stated he enjoyed painting people of all backgrounds. His love for history relates back to his passion for painting heroes who may not have been recognized by history so he painted them and told their stories with his art and how their impact made him feel.
Young would paint in an alley called Goodbread Alley that he claimed police wouldn’t come around that area. He would find wood, put it up on the alley and paint. He became known for being in that alley working on his art to the point tourists would visit him. Young’s opinions and beliefs shine through his paintings. He was fascinated by history and hated seeing how it would repeat itself and worried about the state of society as things were changing but not always for the better. His art conveys these emotions. Young was a self taught painter who wanted to express his feelings through his art.
Lenny Foster
Lenny Foster is a fine art photographer currently in St. Augustine. His gallery, Gallery One Forty Four, is located on 144 King Street.
The LMCC reached out to Lenny Foster and he provided us more details about his inspirations for his works:
Over the last several years, photographer Lenny Foster’s engagement with Black historical sites in St. Augustine, as well as members of the Black community, have formed the basis for the several growing bodies of work included in his solo exhibition In the Spirit of Lincolnville. Paying homage to this community, the artist calls attention to the people, architecture, and notable events that transpired along the streets of Lincolnville. Founded in 1866 by formerly enslaved people, the township has long been a prominent historically Black neighborhood. While the photo series Porch Portraits includes photographs of long time Black residents of Lincolnville, each of whom have experienced our rapidly changing city over the past half-century. Where Dreams Became Memories features structures of architectural importance to the area, and Where We Stand marks sites of where significant events have occurred. The works included in this exhibition are part legacy and part preservation and reflect Foster’s vested interest in preserving the lives and legacy of Lincolnville.
The Lincolnville Museum’s collection of works from photographers Richard Twine and John Jackson inspired Foster to begin his Porch Portraits. Twine was a professional photographer who captured Lincolnville during the 1920s. Jackson, father of Thomas Jackson, the current and first African American President of the St. Augustine Historical Society, documented daily life in Lincolnville and West Augustine from the 1960s through the 1980s. Most recently Theresa Segal, longtime Lincolnville resident and photographer who has recorded the changes Lincolnville has undergone since the early 1980s, has become an inspiration to Foster. The bodies of work he has produced have not only informed an understanding of his own African American heritage but have expanded his understanding of the resilience and vibrancy of St. Augustine’s longstanding Black community throughout its long history.
Arthur Dillard
Accomplished watercolor artist Arthur Dillard knew he wanted to become an artist since the third grade. Dillard was told he would never be an artist but he never stopped believing in his dream since this was all he wanted. Dillard states that, “I like for all my paintings to tell a story or make a statement to the viewer.” His work varies from portraits of famous figures such as Barack Obama and Mary McLeod Bethune to paintings of everyday people such as children playing. Dillard implants a memory into each of his paintings wanting his creation to tell a story to viewers.
In 2016, Florida Governor Rick Scott chose over 20 of his paintings to be on display in Tallahassee state buildings. Additionally, Dillard is a collector of African American art and has lectured on the topic at several universities in Florida and Alabama. His work can be seen today at his studio in Bradenton, Fl.
Ernest Lee
Ernest Lee grew up in North Carolina where his art teacher encouraged him to study art in college. After studying for two years, he had to take a job in the electrical field with a large lighting company in Florida. While in Florida, his love for art never went away. He became friends with a Florida Highwayman, S. M Wells, who encouraged him to continue painting.
Lee’s art has been in many exhibits and received many awards. His folk art work in Florida made him known as Florida’s Van Gogh due to his use of vibrant colors and impasto style. After Lee’s passing, his wife Gloria continues his legacy by displaying and selling Ernest’s artwork and telling his story, and has donated funds for student art scholarships in Alachua and other Florida counties. The LMCC sells notecards of his art in the gift shop for visitors to admire and share with others.
