Black Art in America, North vs. South

 First things first, lets set the stage:

It’s mid 1920’s in America, and the Great Migration has already begun. The “New Negro” is coming into full effect…

Couple, Harlem, 1932 by James Van Der Zee

FDR, the Federal Art Project

 

President Franklin D. Roosevelt

 

The Federal Art Project was one of five programs that made up “Federal One”.

Federal One was an initiative managed by a government agency called the WPA (Works Progress Administration), to help put Americans back to work after the tragedy of the Great Depression.

Langston Hughes, the Racial Mountain

 

“An artist must be free to choose what he does, certainly, but he must also never be afraid to do what he might choose.”

Langston Hughes introduced the idea of the Racial Mountain in his essay “The Negro Artist and the Racial Mountain.”

He described it as “the mountain standing in the way of any true Negro art in America…”

Langston wrote this essay because he was asked to respond to a writing by George Schuyler. In it, George explains that all art made in America is “American art” and that there is no need for labels like “African-American Art” or “African-American Artist”

 Hughes completely disagreed. And so he responded,

Tré Seals, Founder of Vocal Type

 As the founder of VOCAL TYPE, a socially driven font foundry, Seals is addressing the lack of diversity in the design industry by “elevating historically underrepresented voices.”

His journey is not just about creating beautiful typefaces; it’s about crafting powerful narratives rooted in history and activism.