African-American Designers: The Chicago Experience Then and Now

Abstract

A February 5, 2000, DuSable Museum, Chicago Not all scholars agree with literary critic Bone that the Chicago Black Renaissance began in 1928 and ended in 1960.1 Some scholars have argued that there was no flowering of the arts, but rather a grafting of creative endeavors from the early twentieth century. However, there is little disagreement that Chicago was a major, if not the major, urban locus for art, theater, poetry and fiction, blues and jazz, and intellectual energy during the 1930s, 1940s, and 1950s. Indeed, by 1930, Chicago had the largest urban population in the country. Confined to the city's southside by restrictive covenants and realtors' red-lining tactics, most African Americans, regardless of their social class and occupation, lived together. Despite deteriorating mansions, and crowded tenements and kitchenettes on the southside, AfricanAmerican Chicagoans took great pride in their communities, especially their social and educational institutions. Among these institutions were the South Side Community Art Center, the first African-American-owned art center to showcase African and artwork. There also was Parkway Community House, a prominent social settlement established by University of Chicago-trained sociologist, Horace Cayton. The George Cleveland Hall Library, the first public library in Chicago's community, was one of the intellectual centers in Bronzeville, the most prosperous business district in the city. Under the capable directorship of Vivian Harsh, the library showcased art, poetry, stories, and music. Along with librarian Charlemae Rollins, Harsh organized reading circles, writing clubs, debates, children's story hours, performances, essay writing contests, and art exhibits. In short, there was vibrant intellectuality and artistry, informed by a pan-African consciousness, as well as the syncretization of southern migrant and northern urban traditions. Although scholars only recently have begun to analyze the music and literature of Chicago's Black there has been little examination of its fine or design arts.2 For this reason, the symposium African-American Designers: The Chicago Experience Then and Now Symposium, held at the DuSable Museum on February 5, 2000, was especially noteworthy in showcasing schol1 Robert Bone, Richard Wright and the Chicago Renaissance, Callaloo 9 (Summer 1986): 446-468. 2 See, for example, William Howland Kenney, Chicago Jazz. A Cultural History 1904-1930(New York: Oxford University Press, 1993); Samuel A. Floyd, Jr., The Power of Black Music. Interpreting Its History from Africa to the United States