"I recall a time, not long ago, when one of my children asked me, "Mom, why don't you paint conceptual drawings like you did years ago?" That question took me back to when I was a freshman art student at Mercer University in Macon, GA, a small Southern town about 80 miles southeast of Atlanta. I was pursuing a double major in studio art and biology. I was hopeful of becoming a medical illustrator."
"During my first two years of college, I felt compelled by the tumultuous events of the time to paint what I felt about the world, the social climate, and my community. I created a drawing of my father and mother, holding a child, standing in front of an archery target. They were strong, Black, and proud but without any control of their destiny. It was called Target Practice."
"There was another painting, an abstract that represented a young woman like me thrown into a world of "Whiteness," only to realize even more acutely how we did not belong. It was called Purple you, Purple me. Another abstract painting, The Rebirth of Colored Folk, was a passionate call for unity among all the different hues of Black folks who were bein"
A Black woman from Macon, GA pursued a double major in studio art and biology with hopes of becoming a medical illustrator. She attended Mercer University after participating in Upward Bound and began college in the fall of 1968 amid national turmoil. During her early college years she produced politically and personally charged work, including Target Practice and abstracts like Purple you, Purple me and The Rebirth of Colored Folk. More than fifty years ago she was unjustly denied an art degree as the only Black woman in the Art Department, which derailed her artistic career path.
Read at Non Profit News | Nonprofit Quarterly
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