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Black Craftspeople Digital Archive

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Black Craftspeople Digital Archive

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About
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Maps
Contact

Exhibits

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#ObjectOfTheDay Sargent Johnson, "Mask," c. 1930-1

#ObjectOfTheDay
Sargent Johnson, "Mask," c. 1930-1935. Smithsonian American Art Museum (1966.27.4)

Today BCDA is honoring the life and legacy of Reve

Today BCDA is honoring the life and legacy of Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
#MLKDay

Charles C. Dawson had a hand in many crafts, inclu

Charles C. Dawson had a hand in many crafts, including painting, printmaking, and illustrating. He was born in Brunswick, Georgia and attended Tuskegee Institute to study art. He then went on to continue his studies at the Art Students League of New York and, after saving enough money by working as a Pullman porter, the Art Institute of Chicago. While at the Art Institute, he became very active in organizations and exhibitions. Dawson served as the manager of the Annual Chicago Architectural Exhibition and helped to found the Arts and Letter Society, the first black artists collective in Chicago. After serving with the Buffalo Soldiers in France during World War I, Dawson returned to American even more committed to using his art to enhance opportunity for African Americans. He became part of the New Negro Movement in Chicago and eventually helped found the all-Black Chicago Art League. Some of his best known pieces are illustrations he did for beauty products, even if he was not allowed to sign them because of his race. However, Dawson self-published a children's book, "ABCs of Great Negroes" which featured twenty-six of his own prints. He eventually returned to Tuskegee Institute, where he served as curator of the Museum of Negro Art and Culture and the George Washington Carver Museum until retirement.
For more information see: Daniel Schulman, "Charles Dawson," American Institute of Graphic Arts, https://www.aiga.org/design-journeys-charles-dawson; Daniel Schulman, “'White City' and 'Black Metropolis': African American Painters in Chicago, 1893–1945,” in "Chicago Modern, 1893–1945: Pursuit of the New," Chicago: Terra Museum of American Art, 2004.
Image 1: Charles C. Dawson, "O Sing a New Song," c. 1933, Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1999.529.58; Image 2: Charles C. Dawson, "Self Portrait," n.d., DuSable Museum of African American History; Image 3: Charles C. Dawson, cover of "ABCs of Great Negroes," Chicago: Dawsons Publishers, 1933; Image 4: Charles C. Dawson, cover of the “Negro in Art Week” program, 1927, Ryerson Library at the Art Institute of Chicago.

#FromTheArchive Over the past few weeks, we shared

#FromTheArchive
Over the past few weeks, we shared the stories of craftspeople who worked in various trades that we did not identify for the first phase of the archive. Those trades include dress maker, upholsterer, and even bird cage maker. Today we are taking you behind the scenes for a sneak peak at some of the other new trades that will be featured in the archive for the Tennessee launch.
Moses Carthus, Aaron Bolton, and Green A. King, all residents of Ward 1 in Nashville, listed themselves as broom makers. Rather than identifying as a stonemason, Madison White told the census taker he was a marble cutter. Louis Backwell, also a resident of Nashville, listed himself as a white washer in the 1870 Census. The upholsterer we identified last week is John Bluford, who lived in Ward 8 of Nashville in 1870.
Keep an eye out in our Instagram Stories, where we will continue to share #NewTradeAlert as we continue our research leading up to the Tennessee launch!
Image 1-4: Ancestry.com, Year: 1870, Census Place: Nashville, Davidson, Tennessee, Roll: M593_1523, Family History Library Film: 553022.

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The contents of The Black Craftspeople Digital Archive are available for research, educational purposes, and private study only. Images used are either in the public domain or used with permission.

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