BENEATH THE HANGING MOSS
THE JOURNEY OF AFRICAN AMERICAN FEMALE ARTIST/EDUCATORS AT A
HISTORICALLY BLACK COLLEGE
A Doctoral Dissertation Presented to the Faculty of the College of Education University of Houston
In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree
Doctor of Education
by
Lynnette Marshea Gilbert
December 2017
Acknowledgement
“For this reason, because I have heard of your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love toward all the saints, I do not cease to give thanks for you, remembering you in my prayers.” Ephesians 1:15-16
I, first, must acknowledge my Lord and Savior, to God I give all the honor and praise. I would like to thank my family, friends, “YaYas”, and my UH family. Their constant support, encouragement, and love truly ignited my will and determination. I am completely grateful for the research participants. Thank you for allowing me to enter and interrupt your lives for a moment, so you may share with me your journey as an African American female art educator. Without you, absolutely none of this would be possible.
The commitment of my committee has been unflagging and I am thankful for your knowledge and guidance throughout my entire process.
I would also like to acknowledge African American female art educators of our past, who paved the way for developing artists like myself. Your work has inspired and it continues to inspire me. You lit the torch and I will continue to carry it and pass it along to other young aspiring female artists.
Lastly, to my brilliant father, Dr. Johnny Gilbert. You are the original “doctor of philosophy” in our family. Your intellect is like none other and your strength is never surpassing, but above all your love is everlasting. In tribute to my mother, Ms. Johnnie Maberry, words truly cannot express my affection towards you and your contributions to our “art world.” You are my muse.
I submit this research with a humble heart full of gratitude, for my path was not easy and I did not tread it alone. I was surrounded by the love and support of those closest to me, and for this I am forever grateful.
Abstract
Background: Incorporating the histories and works of art of African Americans from a multicultural perspective could enhance understandings of American heritage and contributions in art education. African American artists have served as important artistic and historical figures; however, they have often been left out or minimalized throughout the history of art education. It is necessary to incorporate African American artists into art education to help shape students’ understanding, in a deliberate way, of African Americans on art and art education and the impactful role of historically black colleges in African Americans’ teacher training. Purpose: The purpose of this qualitative inquiry was to investigate the experiences of female African American artists/educators who are graduates of the same historically black college. The study explored how participants’ self-reported influences, obstacles, and experiences in art teacher education transcended into their development into art educators. This study is an important addition to art education literature in that it presents African American women perspectives on the effect of context and pedagogy on their development of style and method of teaching art. Methods: Data were collected using case study qualitative methods.
The participants included five African American female artists/educators, which included the researcher. Participants were selected through purposeful sampling and then interviewed. The researcher transcribed and compared participants’
responses and established themes. Results: Data analysis showed common themes of choosing a historically black college, experiences and influences, and how these influences transcended into personal teacher practices. Participants’ narratives reflected unique experiences that prepared them in the field of art education.
Conclusion: The conclusion reveals the historical relevance of historically black colleges and universities in educating African American female artists/educators.
Their perspectives on how their teacher training influenced their development as art educators is important because it adds a voice that is seldom heard.
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Table of Contents
Chapter Page
I. Introduction ...... 11 Statement of Problem ...... 13 Purpose of Study ...... 14 Significance of Study ...... 21 Definition of Key Terms ...... 23 Summary ...... 25 II. Literature Review ...... 26 Identity for African American Artists ...... 27 Socio-cultural Influences ...... 42 The Teacher Training of African American Artist/Educators ...... 46 Summary ...... 51 III. Methodology ...... 52 Qualitative Inquiry ...... 52 Case Study ...... 53 Research Question ...... 54 Subjectivity Statement ...... 55 Participants ...... 57 Setting ...... 61 Access and Entry ...... 62 Data Collection ...... 63 Interview Protocol ...... 64 Data Analysis ...... 66 Coding ...... 67 Triangulation ...... 68 Limitations of the Study ...... 69 Summary ...... 70 IV. Findings ...... 72 Tougaloo College: A Brief Description ...... 73 Choosing Tougaloo College ...... 74 Experiences and Perceptions ...... 79 Transfer of Knowledge ...... 89 Summary ...... 94 V. Conclusion ...... 95 Summary of Study ...... 95 Summary of Findings ...... 96 Future Research ...... 102 References ...... 105 Appendix A IRB Approval Letter ...... 111
Appendix B Tougaloo College Letter of Authorization ...... 113 Appendix C Recruitment Flyer ...... 114 Appendix D Consent Form ...... 115 Appendix E Participant Questionnaire ...... 119 Appendix F Interview Protocol ...... 120 Appendix G Proposal Letter for a major in Art ...... 122 Appendix H Letter to Professor Schnell from participant Dorothy Vaughn ...... 125 Appendix I Letters to participants Dorothy Vaughn and Johnnie Mae Maberry ..... 126 Appendix J Tougaloo College transcript from participant Lynnette Gilbert ...... 128
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List of Tables
Table Page
1. Table 1: Low Level and High Level Coding Samples ...... 67 2. Table 2: Findings-Themes and Categories ...... 94
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List of Figures
Figure Page
1. Participants’ Summary ...... 60 2. Participants’ Professors and Majors at a Glance ...... 60 3. Phil Carspecken’s Interview Protocol Model ...... 65
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Chapter I
Introduction
As an artist/educator, I began researching the identity of the art educator. Every art educator has his or her personal story about how they entered the world of art education. These experiences may vary in terms of professional background, upbringing, community role models, inspirations, and career choices, but no matter the story, there is one question that arises in some form or fashion; “What is my identity as an artist/educator?”
I had completed my undergraduate studies in fine arts and was in the process of pursuing my Masters of Fine Arts (MFA) before coming to a decision to pursue art education. While in my MFA program, I experienced extreme frustration and a disconnection from my initial ambition of wanting to become an artist. I questioned my ability as an artist. Much of my frustration was caused by the countless art critiques that seemed to discourage artists versus encouraging and challenging artists’ thinking and creative processes. It seemed that despite the effort I made, each critique fell short of what people thought I was capable of. In the end, I had completely lost myself and my purpose. I was at a complete loss. I was suffering in an arena that has always been part of me. It was at this same time that I was introduced to the community education program through the college of art. It began as just a job, picking up extra money teaching classes on the weekend and during the summer. However, the moment I stepped
2 into my first art classroom setting, the feelings of being broken, uninspired and discouraged as an artist, disappeared.
The connection to art I thought I was losing was re-established in a more meaningful way and I was no longer frustrated. Through my art, I had found my purpose for being an artist. After my last semester critique in the MFA program, I was asked if I had any questions, and I responded with only one, “Will my credits transfer?” I left the
MFA program, which is a terminal degree for studio artists, and relocated to another university and state because it was important for me to be part of a program that infused studio arts with art education. I moved to Birmingham, Alabama as a graduate student in art education, and from that point, art education has been my primary focus.
As I became more immersed in my profession, I found it increasingly difficult to make my own art, especially with the time restraints placed on teaching my art classes.
As far back as I can remember, I have struggled with my developing identity as an artist.
As an undergraduate student, I struggled with how I identified myself as an artist, looking for my own identity in the shadows of my mother, who is an artist. Remarkably, during the time of my undergraduate studies, she was also one of two of my art professors at
Tougaloo College. My apprehensiveness and search for my own identity as an artist continued as I entered my masters of fine arts (MFA) program. As I progressed in my career as an artist/educator, an emerging question for me arose regarding my own ability to manage both being an artist and a teacher. Was it possible to be both, and still remain true to myself as an artist, as well as my career goals as an art educator? These questions seem to be ongoing for some of my fellow art educators I’ve met or worked with throughout my career.
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Art teachers are often recognized as artists and teachers in schools and in their communities. Although the dual professions of artist and teacher are not easy to pursue within the demands placed on art teachers, many studies have revealed that the experiences of both making art and teaching art are interwoven and enrich art teachers’ lives (Lim, 2008). Once I changed my graduate studies to art education, it became easier to identify as an artist. It was important for me to understand a healthy and appropriate balance to both endeavors in order to provide the best educational experience and practices for my students.
My research journey began by questioning identity of artist/educator. I conducted some preliminary research. As I researched the identity of the artist/educator as it relates to my own absorption in both creating and educating, I came to the conclusion that the notion of artist/educator was not dichotomous with the notion of being solely an artist.
The fusion of these two practices did result in a greater concern and desire to research factors that shaped and influenced my own identity as an African American artist/educator.
Statement of the Problem
Multicultural education refers to any form of education or teaching that incorporates the histories, texts, values, beliefs, and perspectives of people from different cultural backgrounds (“Hidden Curriculum,” 2014). Embedded in the history of art education is the racial prejudice that has influenced perception, documentation, and exclusion of African American artist/educators (Chalmers, 1992). Addressing these gaps of knowledge that F. Graeme Chalmers (1992) describes, brings significance to
4 researching the histories of African American artist/educators through inquiring about the cultural relevance and histories of African American artist/educators.
Incorporating the histories and works of art of African Americans from a multicultural perspective and incorporating art education histories and works of art produced within a culture could possibly enhance our understanding of our American heritage. Sharif Bey (2007) states cultural differences, values attitudes, and belief systems must be bridged in order for teachers to facilitate student’s growth in developing their own cultural art forms (p. 63). This research made it imperative for me to look back upon my own experiences as a student, artist, and educator.
Purpose of the Study
Inquiry into the histories of African American artists as art educators is not only an important topic but is, rather, an imperative one. This research not only identifies those who paved the way for today’s African American art educators, but also increases understanding of identity and its impact in art education. In order to contribute to one of the crucial gaps in U.S. art education, the influence of post New Negro Movement artist/educators on African American art community and historically black colleges and universities (HBCU) should be studied and researched (Bey, 2007).
Historically, black colleges and universities, often the only institutions of higher learning to hire African Americans in the late nineteenth century and early twentieth century, provided a remarkable resource in training and employing artists while simultaneously developing collections of African and African American art that are now priceless repositories of a black cultural legacy (Holland, 1998). In addition to their
5 documentary collections, these institutions also provided the primary training for African
American artists, art historians, professors, and curators (Conwill, 1998).
As a graduate from a historically black college (HBCU), I was intrigued by images of and references to African art and African American artists. As I reflect on my undergraduate experience, I remember entering into the gates of Tougaloo College with a great deal of uncertainty regarding the field of study I would pursue.
Growing up, I had always been surrounded by art. I created drawings just to pass the time not really knowing this would be my life’s work. My mother, who at the time of my undergraduate studies, was an associate art professor at Tougaloo College, suggested
I become a fine arts major. My response was “really?” Apparently she knew what was brewing inside of me long before I did. It was important for me to begin college with a major, I did not want to be forced into publicly announcing myself as a student with an undecided major during Rites of Passage (a ceremony for incoming freshman). My mother encouraged me to explore fine arts as a major suggesting that if I didn’t like it, I could always change my major later. I went along with the idea of exploring art as a major, and four years later, I would march around the campus to the beat of the African drums and walk across the stage receiving a bachelor degree of art in fine arts.
As part of my undergraduate curriculum, African American Art was a required art history course. I can recall often passing the work of Romare Bearden on my trips to the library. One piece in particular, Romare Bearden (1971) Conjunction was breath taking.
Viewing that piece was the highlight of my trips to the library. Not only was I in an environment that empowered me as an African American artist, I had been raised in a home where my mother’s artwork had been prominently displayed. In my eyes, this
6 close proximity to living with a person who both made art and displayed an evolving collection of art in our living spaces appeared to be the norm. I was being educated about modern and post-modern artists, and I was also being exposed to my own place in art history through the works of Joshua Johnson, Robert S. Duncanson, Edmonia Lewis,
Elizabeth Catlett, and William H. Johnson, to name a few. Another influential dimension to my developing artist/educator identity was my ongoing curiosity and explorations into the legacy of African American artists. Undergraduate work provided me with opportunities to learn more about local African American artists especially in art history and studio courses. However, I quickly learned through my graduate studies in art education about the lack of representation of African American artists within art education.
Within this unique immersion into the experience of living in an artist’s home working in tandem with my undergraduate learning experiences, I noticed there seemed to be a narrow group of African American artists who were often represented in marketed art education curriculum and teacher training material. Artists like Jacob Lawrence,
Romare Bearden, and Faith Ringgold, produced images that remain constant throughout art images in art education. In the age of Post-Modern art education and Public
Broadcasting Service (PBS) show, Art 21 profiles emerging African American artists such as Kara Walker, Kehinde Wiley, Michael Ray Charles, and Mark Bradford.
Even though there is more and more representation of African American artists within the study of art, there is a second problem regarding the visibility and representation of African Americans within art education curriculum. Increased representation of this cultural group appears to have little impact on broadening the art
7 education historical narratives. As an African American art educator it is important to identify African Americans as not only artists, but substantial contributors to art education. Perhaps the least explored area of African Americans within art education is the role of black institutions and individuals in nurturing the development of black artists
(Holland, 1998).
Thoughtful, thorough teacher training for art education preparation has the potential to build foundational identities that enable art teachers to move into the real world of their field and identify themselves confidently as art educators and as artists
(Hatfield, Montana & Deffenbaugh, 2006). A realistic accounting of African American presence and participation in the field of art education enables my students to see themselves represented as leaders in the fine arts world, as well as for me to identify my cultural presence in art education.
Some content analysis has been done regarding the extent to which African
Americans have a presence in both art education curriculum design and art education histories. One example of this is the work of researcher Robert Clements. Robert
Clements (1978) found that eight current general art appreciation textbooks, at that time, contained “four thousand reproductions of artworks, which included a total of ten African
American artists” (p. 255). Clements went further to make reference to an undisclosed institution of higher education, which contained “twenty thousand slides of American art, and only forty slides by fourteen well known African American artists were included in the collection” (p. 255).
Cumulatively, these circumstances impact the quality of teaching that I am able to bring into my classroom. I explored the causes and circumstances regarding the lack of
8 representation of African American artists observed in art education. Consequently, I felt
I had a responsibility culturally and artistically as an educator and as African American to identify, introduce, and share with my students’ African American artists integrating them alongside with commonly referenced artists throughout art history.
To integrate is to reach further: bring together people of different colors and
ethnic backgrounds so that they associate not only on an equal basis but also make
a real effort to respect the autonomy of other people and to appreciate the virtues
of cultural diversity (Patterson, 2001, Ballengee-Morris, Ambush, and Daniel,
2012, p. 4).
With all that is finally being written today about African Americans and their past, there is still a need for much more research and analysis (Lewis, 1990, 2003). As an art educator it is important that students see themselves represented as leaders in the visual arts world. J. Eugene Grigsby, Jr. (1997) referenced June McFee (1973) in his book, Art and Ethnics, Background for Teaching Youth in Pluralist Society (1977). McFee (1973) states that unless cultural differences in values and attitudes are bridged, the teacher will have a difficult time helping students grow in their own cultural art forms (as cited in
Grigsby, 1977). This means that students not only grow into their own cultural art forms, but, see their contributions to our multicultural society and help respond to the arts of other people (1977). Dr. Grigsby’s purpose of this reference is for art educators of any background to be conscious of the validity of referencing, showcasing, and teaching our students about artists with which they can identify, as well as for others to become culturally aware and responsive to artists and cultures not of their own ethnic
9 background. This would also ring true for me as an art educator as well as my mother and other African American art educators.
Dr. Bernard Young, professor of Art Education and Director of Graduate studies states that “People all over the world search to find meaning; as a young man I searched to find meaning in art and the discovery of artists that shared my ethnicity, other commonalities, interests in art and culture” (Young, 2013, p. 53). Like Dr. Young, I use this same reasoning, as well as the phrase “culturally responsive teaching” as I incorporate African American artists in my teaching. As the student population becomes more diverse, culturally responsive teaching can free us and allow us to consider and create more comprehensive, inclusive, and validating teaching materials, strategies, and contexts (Ballengee-Morris, Ambush and Daniel, 2012).
As I continue my studies and research in art education, much to my dismay, there is still little information on African American artist/educators and their role in the development of other African American artist/art educators. Many of the African
American artists that are staples in my personal art curriculum and whose personal stories and work inspire me were also art educators. Internationally renowned artists such as
John T. Biggers, Elizabeth Catlett, Aaron Douglas, Lois Mailou Jones, Henry Ossawa
Tanner, Augusta Savage, and Hale Woodruff were all art educators.
Although documentation of the lives and work of African American artists are increasing, less has been written about those who were also art educators. Exceptions include the work of Augusta Savage (Cochran, 2000, J.C. Smith, 1992). My initial ideas about my personal study of identity, foundation, influences, and purpose of being an
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African American art educator stemmed from researching the development of art departments at historically black colleges and universities (HBCU).
Their roles of nurturing and developing African American art educators who provided a vanguard were simultaneously integrating the field of art education, while providing communities with pedagogy from a direct knowledge of African American art.
Many of the artists I discussed in my previous research, either attended, graduated and/or went on to establish and teach art at an HBCU. Their stories and their journeys were familiar stories, not only because I received my Bachelor of Arts Degree in Fine Arts from Tougaloo College, an HBCU, but also because of my mother, Johnnie Mae Maberry
Gilbert, a professor of art at Tougaloo College.
Professor Maberry graduated from Tougaloo College in Tougaloo, Mississippi in
May of 1970 with a Bachelors of Arts Degree in Fine Arts, being part of the second class to graduate with a Bachelors of Arts in Fine Arts from Tougaloo College.
As a child, I remember my mother saying that she was going to return to
Tougaloo as a Professor of art, and she did. She joined the art department in 1989 and went on to become an Associate Professor under the mentorship of the Chair and founder of the art department, Professor Ronald Schnell. Professor Maberry has been Associate
Professor of Art at Tougaloo College for over twenty-five years. Through the years should would also become the department Chair, and currently, alongside teaching, she is the Art Curator of the Tougaloo Art Gallery and Tougaloo College historic art collection.
Recalling my mother’s journey lead me to deeper reflections of my own journey and how valid our stories were through multiple roles of identity in the histories of art
11 education. Investigating the omission of African American art educators called attention to a more personal study of the relevance of African American identity for art educators.
This study employs a qualitative research methodological case study approach in investigating four African American female artist/educators. In addition, this study incorporates a self-reflexive approach enabling me to examine my own journey in becoming an art educator and framing a future direction for my artist/educator work. The purpose of the research is to reveal our foundation, identity, purpose and promise as
African American women, art students, and artist/educators. Socio-cultural influences become central to this examination in highlighting African American participation in art and art education.
Significance of the Study
As I reflect on my mother’s journey, my research becomes personal and intimate.
The identity, nurturing and development, and influences of African American art educators must begin with understanding my own identity, culture and influences, as well as my mother’s. My mother and I would share the same experience of walking through the large white Tougaloo College arched gate as young African American art students and into societies that are markedly different in many ways.
My mother entered with assurance of what she was to be, where as I was not quite sure what I was going to be. However, we both knew, Tougaloo was a place, a community, where who we were and what we wanted mattered. Her lasting influence and guidance that helped define her as an artist and art educator would be Professor
Ronald Schnell. My lasting influence and guidance would be Professor Johnnie Mae
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Maberry Gilbert. The significance of my mother, an African American female artist/educator would not truly resonate with me until I began my student teaching.
My mother has always been a mother, an artist, and an educator. Being educators is part of my family’s DNA, so for me, it was the norm. However, even as a student teacher in Birmingham, Alabama, there were many female art teachers, but there were very few of the same gender and race as I. When I recollect on my undergraduate years as an art student, my mother was the only African American professor of art in the department. She began her tenure at Tougaloo College in 1989, becoming the first
African American female art professor. Her art professors as a student were German and
Jewish. Almost twenty years would pass before Tougaloo College, an HBCU, would bring forth one of their own to teach art in the fine arts department.
Scholarly studies have tended to appraise the works and careers of black artists only to the extent that they have been recognized by influential white individuals and institutions in Europe and America, but there also existed what can be called the black academy, a continuous flow of encouragement, patronage, instruction, and mentoring that black artists received from other African American individuals and institutions (Holland,
1998). Historically black colleges and universities not only served as institution of higher learning for African Americans, but often the only institutions to hire African Americans
(Holland, 1998). African American artists educating, sharing experience and developing collections of African American art are creating and preserving a cultural legacy.
James Haywood Rolling (2004) tells us “identities are constructed from personal experiences, from inter-psychological detritus, from cultural debris, from popular residue” (Bey, 2007, p. 72). Before I can move forward in my research regarding African
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American art educators’ identity, I must begin with a discussion of the concepts of self- identification. Self-identification includes self-knowledge, self-affirmation, and self- empowering of ethnically and culturally different individuals and groups (Gay, 2004).
Everyone has their own personal journey, their own story. This study will recall the journey of African American female artist/educators in art education. Part of self- identification comes through relationships and social encounters with others (Young,
2013). This study is an inquiry into the histories of African American female artist/educators that will identify socio-cultural influences, obstacles experienced in teacher training, and pedagogical foundations that have a thread through HBCUs.
Leslie King Hammond (2015) speaking at the Howard University James A.
Porter Colloquiumi cogently expresses that we have not thoroughly interrogated the perspectives over a sustained period of time for fine artists and art educators within the
African American community regarding the location of our historical archive (Ambush,
2016).
Sociocultural refers to the combination social and cultural elements. This study serves as such through race and gender, as well as identifies the roles in which female
African American art educators seemly hold in art education. There are many ethnographies of various social groups with a larger culture (Merriam, 2002). Within the
African American culture in art education, there are a many directions the research can lean towards. This study is aimed to reflect the socio-cultural influences, and teacher training have African American female artist/educators, as well as their pedagogical foundational connection to HBCUs.
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Definition of Key Terms
Artist/Educator: artist involved in an ongoing profession of discovery, problem solving, discipline and refinement of skills in their discipline, as well as developing a knowledge base and skills to be an effective partner in education (Association of
Teaching Artist, 2016). Artist/educator can be identified as someone who is excellent at teaching art and developing their students and themselves through nurturing and sacrifice
(Zwirn, 2002). The artist/educator is a professional in the fields of both artist and art education and integrates the two roles as one (Zwirn, 2002; Mischler, 1995; Stankowicz,
2001). Furthermore, the artist/educator is one whose art making practices both formed and were formed by personal and social psychology, as well as educational background and work environment (Hatfield, Montana, and Deffenbaugh, 2006).
Historically Black College and University: Any historically black college or university that was established prior to 1964, whose principal mission was, and is the education of black Americans (U.S. Department of Education Office of Civil Rights,
1991). HBCU is an acronym for Historically Black Colleges and Universities.
Multicultural Education: a concept, a process, and an educational reform movement (Banks, 1993). Multicultural education is to provide students with an education that was more responsive to social, political, and economic conditions of the times and to the issues of ethnic students (Stuhr, 1994). Geneva Gay (2004) affirms multicultural education is integral to improving the academic success of students of color, as well as shaping the social, political, economic, and cultural fabric of the United States and how such issues fundamentally influence students of color personal lives (p. 31)
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Socio-culture: Socio-cultural context refers to the intersection of social and cultural events of a certain time period that inform various phenomena (Scott, 2013).
Summary
In this chapter, I have introduced the nature of the study and presented a statement of the problem along with the significance of the study and the purpose of the study. I have also given definitions of terms necessary for understanding certain aspects of the study. In the next chapter, I will present the literature review and the historical context to the study.
Chapter II
Literature Review
As established in Chapter one, there is an important intersection between African
American participation in craft and fine arts in 19th century America along with the aims and efforts to establish black educational institutions that promoted integration into society through courses like art education. In the post emancipation era, HBCUs came into fruition, many through land grants and religious organizations (Gasman &
McMickens, 2017). They were seen as beacons of hope in shaping a vision for how black children should be taught and the means to achieve equality in society.
African American educational leaders included industrial education and normal school curriculum that which become the forerunners of early arts education curriculum content (Colson, 1941) within HBCUs. Institutions like Howard University, Wilberforce
University increasingly strategize the inclusion of fine arts curriculum as an emancipatory tool that would counter Jim Crow ideologies and help to advance social equality.
With the important emphasis within black institutions on the inclusion of more
African-American artists in the course of study in art education in late 19th century and early 20th century America, such aims transcend time and are also essential in the larger scope of contemporary art education. In my search for literature based on the topic of
African American art educators, I found literature that dealt with the art of African
Americans, the African American artists and their art, the role of the black artists, and art
17 collections from historically black colleges and universities. As I read through each of these areas, I realized all were equally important as it pertains to the historical framework of the research. However, may be needed is an integration of this information into the historical narratives for the history of art education. Today African American artists are energetic participants in a cultural revolution (Lewis, 1990). They are not compelled to seek acceptance based solely on European aesthetic standards, but instead are responding to their own cultural aesthetic framework by creating art from the depths of their own needs, actions and reactions (Lewis, 1990).
For the literature review I will focus on three main areas including: 1) historical perspectives on identities of African American artists; 2) socio-cultural influences; and 3) the evolution of artistic opportunity and educational philosophy regarding art education teacher training of African American artist/educators.
Alain Locke (1931) wrote “Negro art is racial in origin and spiritual incubation, but inter-racial in consumption and effect, and national in scope and significance (p.
98).” Locke’s statement suggests the impetus for this review of literature. This review will serve as a historical reference of culture, artistic identities, and roles of the African
American artist.
Samella Lewis discusses issues of identity for African American artists through various time periods in African American Art and Artists (1990), which focus on lost identities through slavery, recovering from lost cultural identities and self-discovery during the era emancipation, and finally racial representation and self-pride during the age of the great migration, or what she titles the new Americanism and ethnic identity.
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Juanita Marie Holland (1998) also speaks upon the various dimensions of identity, definition of race, culture, teachers and mentors and historically black colleges and universities in Narratives of African American Art and Identity (1998). All of these dimensions will guide the reader through significant time periods of self-awareness, self- identification, cultural understanding and developmental practices among African
American artists.
My goal through this literature review is to narrate from a particular philosophical intersection regarding the struggle for human rights and human dignity. The journey of cultural awareness, self-identification, acceptance, educational foundation and purpose as
African-American artist/educators is highlighted here.
Identity for African American Artists
Cultural deprivation is the absence of certain excepted and acceptable cultural phenomena in environments, which results in the failure of the individual to communicate and respond in the most appropriate manner within the context of society.
Between the years of 1619 and 1865, Samella Lewis (1990), identifies a cultural loss through slavery.
The beginning of involuntary servitude of Africans in North America began in
1619 when a Dutch ship transported twenty West Africans to the British colony of
Jamestown on the eastern coast of North America, lasting more than two hundred years
(Lewis, 1990). During this early period in American history, African Americans held equal status with others individuals in similar work roles through the system of indentured servants who were assigned land and viewed as freemen (1990). The need for a larger workforce that would both meet European demands for goods and the need for
19 cheap labor became the driving force in the development of a brutal system of enslavement that denied Africans and their descendants human rights and human dignity.
It is important to understand the historical context of slavery and the effects of
“seasoning”, a way in which the erasure of cultural identity was central to the tenets of enslavement, became a catalyst from disconnection from creative expression and development that came out of African heritage. The cost of surviving the middle passage was high and keenly felt in the damaging and thwarting influence of cultural hierarchy under which the system of slavery was established (1990). Alain Locke (1933) contended that “Slavery not only transplanted Africans from their homeland, but also abruptly cut them off from their cultural roots: it took away their languages, drastically changed their social habits, and placed them in the midst of a strange and frequently hostile society” (p. 8). Robert Farris Thompson (1984) confirms in his publication Flash of the Spirit that cultural experiences of Africans “crossed from the Old World to the
New” such as music, dance, pantomime and cryptic, as a way to communicate within slave groups. The uniqueness of African Americans began to emerge. As cultures were being stripped, formulations of new traditions began to develop. Also, during this time period the importance of artisans were noted.
Slaveholders gained economically by taking advantage of the applied craft skills brought by African slaves to the Americas. Many of the enslaved Africans carried the memory and skills of craft traditions translated into one or more of the trades needed in rapidly developing colonial societies (Lewis, 1990). Artistic skills in high demand were those of carpenters, potters, sculptors, weavers and metalworkers. Lisa Farrington (2017) notes that many Africans were valued for their high level of artistry. Farrington explains
20 that with the exception of architecture, the slaves created output was considered low rather than high art (Farrington, 2017). Undeniably, the 18th century literary artists Phillis
Wheatley and portrait artist Joshua Johnston serve as excellent examples of African
Americans “high” artistic genius. Joshua Johnston (sometimes spelled Johnson) was a free black artist who first advertised his talents as a portrait painter in the city directory, and in the Baltimore Intelligence (1798). He was considered as someone who experienced many insuperable obstacles while pursuing his studies (Patton, 1998).
According to Farrington (2017), the early works created by African American artisans were limited to decorative arts. Some articles created for the slaves’ personal use and articles for public or professional use survived the colonial period. In such examples of the African American spirit is expressed in visual art forms, there are elements that resonate in the range of aesthetic traditions prevalent in contemporary African American art. Even though, still stripped of individual rights, and looked upon as servants and nothing more, visual culture and archaeology scholarship enables us to more deeply understand. For instance, archaeologists like Cheryl Laroche (1995), have studied cultural artifacts such as the Venetian beads found among the remains of Africans in mass burial sites like four points New York.
Understanding an emergent and distinctive cultural aesthetic practice, requires knowledge of the changing circumstance of African American artists at the turn of the
20th century, it is necessary to understand both obstacles and gains in the preceding centuries (Holland, 1998). During the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, there were few African Americans who achieved a degree of personal recognition as artists and artisans (Lewis, 1990). It is noted in African-American Art (Patton, 1998); African –
21
American Art, A Visual and Cultural History (Farrington, 1984); and other sources that this particular cultural phenomenon of African Americans as skilled artists has been inconclusive in the history of art, however, at the time that Lewis’s book was published there was enough definite information on the subject to be noted in the literature. It is important to discuss artists such as Joshua Johnson, Duncanson, Bannister, Tanner,
Savage, Edmonia Lewis, and others because identification of African American during this time period as professional artists is essential to this study.
The Boston News-Letter ran an advertisement on January 7, 1773 and nine more times that year, the ad would read as followed:
At Mr. McLean’s, Watchmaker, near the Town House, is
a Negro man whose extraordinary genius has been assisted
by one of the best masters in London; he takes faces at the
lowest rates. Specimens of his performances may be seen at
said place (p.9).
Apprenticeship became a form of visual education that informed and broadened opportunities to engage in artistic practices. Skilled labor craftsmen, often with established businesses, trained candidates in a craft or trade. Participation of blacks in such systems contradicted the slaveholders’ view that African Americans were incapable of craft trades, and dismantled assumptions of inferiority (Henderson, 1993).
Such is the case of Scipio Moorhead who was born between the years of 1750 and
1760. He was an enslaved African painter who lived in Massachusetts during the late eighteenth century. He was owned by Reverend John Moorhead of Boston,
Massachusetts. Reverend Moorhead’s wife, Sarah Moorhead, was a teacher of art and
22 drawing (“Scipio Moorhead,” 1999). Scipio’s talents of drawing and engraving was said to be under the tutorage of Sara Moorhead. There are no known signed works that exist.
The only portraiture on record is his copperplate engraving of African American writer,
Phyllis Wheatley. The recognition of Scipio's work came about through the documented inscription of the Black poet, Phyllis Wheatley. She left behind a penciled note, "To
S.M., a young African painter, on seeing his works," (Lewis, 1990, p.12) inside a copy of her 1773 edition of Poems On Various Subjects, Religious and Moral (“Scipio
Moorhead”, 1999). The engraved portrait of Phyllis Wheatley is the cover page for her book of poetry. The engraved image is Phillis Wheatley holding a quill pen while writing at her desk. Very little else is known about Scipio Moorhead.
One of the most documented painters of African descent during the late 1700s and early 1800s is recognized as Joshua Johnston. Johnston’s existence was unknown until
1939, when genealogist and Baltimore art historian J. Hall Pleasants attributed thirteen paintings to him and attempted to reconstruct his career on the basis of fragmentary and often contradictory information (Bryan and Torchia, 1996). Joshua Johnston life and dates are unknown mainly due to his identity being embedded in slavery. Even his race and the spelling of Johnston or Johnson have been argued among art historians.
According to the biography of Joshua Johnston published in 1992 by the National Gallery of Art, Johnson was born in 1763, and active from 1796-1824. The issue of speculations of Johnston was dismissed when the Maryland Historical Society’s Department of
Manuscripts received three volumes of Baltimore County court chattel records (National
Gallery of Art, 1996). In these volumes are a bill of sale and the manumission record of
Joshua Johnston, listing him as a mulatto, born in Baltimore around 1763. He was a son
23 of a white man, George Johnston and an unknown black slave woman owned by a
William Wheeler, Sr. The documents were recorded on July 15, 1782 and concerned a slave named Joshua, around the age of nineteen (1996). Wheeler sold the child (Joshua
Johnson) to George Johnston or Johnson (documents spelled both ways), said to be the price of an adult male slave field hand. George Johnston acknowledged Johnston as his son and arranged to free him when he completed his apprenticeship to Baltimore blacksmith William “Forepaw,” or when he turned twenty-one, whichever came first
(Bryan and Torchia, 1996). During the eighteenth century a small number of slaves and free blacks were apprenticed to white artisans (Sobel, 1987). Those who were acknowledged by their fathers, as Johnston was, were frequently provided with opportunities for education and with a social life based upon the standards of their white contemporaries (Lewis, 1990).
The verification of Joshua Johnston’s identity is very important to the study of identity and placing an African American as a skilled, commissioned artist; despite of slave owners’ claim black people were incapable of the “finer things” (Bearden and
Henderson, 1993). Johnson being properly identified as an African American would place him as the earliest known African American artist to produce a distinguished body of work (Bearden and Henderson, 1993). Johnston would be advertised twice, but he did not mention his race, describing himself as a “self-taught genius” that had overcome
“insuperable obstacles in the pursuit of his studies” (p.8). He would also list himself as a limner or portrait painter at nine different addresses between 1796 and 1824 (1993).
Joshua Johnston had a very distinctive style of portrait painting. The faces were usually painted with a quarter view and eyes directed forward. Mouths were drawn in
24 linear style typical of the period (Lewis, 1990). The figures were stoic and very little interaction with one another, with a hand gently placed or touching another figure, this is also considered a characteristic of many works done in the early eighteenth century. In the European tradition, his subjects hold objects indicating status and social standing
(Taha, 1998). It is said that his works bears characteristics similar to those of his
Baltimore contemporaries Charles Wilson Peale and Charles Peale Polk (1998).
J. Hall Pleasants (1939), after many years of research of Johnston’s artistic style, was able to identify thirty-four paintings probably created by Joshua Johnston. As of
1998, it is said there are over fifty of his works that survived. None of the paintings attributed to Johnston are signed or dated, but all bear similar stylistic traits (Bryan and
Torchia, 1996; Perry, 1992; Lewis, 1990, 2003). Proof of Joshua Johnston’s stylistic paintings was established in 1976 by the discovery of his name in the will of Mrs.
Thomas Everett, the widow of a Baltimore merchant (Bearden and Henderson, 1993). It would be a portrait of Mrs. Everett with her children left to her eldest daughter, and noted in the will, painted by artist J. Johnson. Like many portrait painters of that time,
Johnston probably also worked as a sign painter, varnisher, or house or carriage painter
(1993) in order to provide a more stable income to support his family.
Joshua Johnston’s works validated the identity of the African American artist as true professional artist, as well as placing African American in art history as fine artists.
Although in 1970s, much speculation was raised about his race when the prices for his painting escalated. The issue of Johnston’s race has sociological and political ramifications (Bryan and Torchia, 1996). The thought of a known African American as a practicing, sought after portrait painter was not only unheard during the eighteenth
25 century, but based on racial prejudices was unacceptable. The works of Joshua Johnston has historical significance and validation for African American artists historically and personally. His contributions as a fine artist and as a free man of color would unknowingly pave the way for others, such as artist Julien Hudson and Patrick Henry
Reason (Lewis, 1990).
Julien Hudson, is known for depicting himself in a portrait. Hudson, the second earliest documented painter of African descent in the United States and considered the first black artist to work in New Orleans. Much like Johnston, the details of Julien
Hudson’s life are scarce, but there are small amounts of information elucidating different points and time in his life. As more information about Julien Hudson emerged, his race remained ambiguous. Although noted as one of the earliest African American painters,
Hudson was not verified as a person of mixed racial ancestry in the historical record until
1995 (Leininger-Miller, 2016).
Julien Hudson, born January 9, 1811, in New Orleans to Desiree Marcos, a property owning free woman of color, and John Thomas Hudson, and English merchant, ironmonger, and ship chandler (“hnoc.org”, 2011). In Search of Julien Hudson: Fee
Artist of Color in Pre-Civil War New Orleans (Keyse-Rudolph and Brady, 2010) is the first publication written of the life and work of Julien Hudson, as the fourth publication in the Collection of Louisiana Artists Biography Series. Written and researched by art historian William Keyse Rudolph and historian Patricia Brady. It is a fully illustrated exhibition catalog with perspective essays by Rudolph and Brady that explore Hudson in the context of the art milieu of pre-Civil War New Orleans and the world of free people of color (Keyse-Rudolph and Brady, 2011). In one essay, William K. Rudolph mentions
26
Hudson’s story is a combination of detection, speculation and invention (Leininger-
Miller, 2016). Of the scattered records of Hudson’s life it is known that he received a good basic education, perhaps at home or from local Creole men or French Immigrants
(2016). At thirteen, like Johnston, he began an apprenticeship to a tailor, then at age fifteen he took approximately five months of drawing and painting lessons with the
Italian miniaturist, Antonio Meucci (1818-1850). At this particular time he is said to have lived with his grandmother Francoise Leclerc, a mulatto belonging to the Leclerc family, freed in 1772. This documentation is made known through Patricia Brady’s detailed genealogical table highlighted in In Search of Julien Hudson (2010). Meucci taught Hudson techniques for capturing likeness on a small scale
(“antiquesandthearts.com”, 2016). After a brief trip to Paris, Julien Hudson would continue his studies at age 20 under Francois (Franz) Fleischbein, a German-born, Paris- trained portraitist and encourage Hudson to increase his scale of work (Rudolph and
Brady, 2011). In 1831, it is documented that Hudson advertised himself as a miniaturist and drawing teacher, listing his mother’s home as his studio address. This would also be the first documentation of an African American being identified as an educator of artistic skill and influences. His only known pupil would be documented to be in 1940, a white
New Orleanian, by the name of George David Coulon. Coulon would go on to become
Louisiana’s leading landscape painter (2011). Julien Hudson would leave a lasting influence upon his pupil, in which Rudolph (2011) makes reference to in describing
Coulon’s early stylistic approach. Hudson would die in 1844; there is not a record of obituary, death certificate, or internment record. Unnatural deaths-suspected homicide and suicides were not listed in regular death register (Leininger-Miller, 2016).
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There are only five secure painting by Julien Hudson and a group of attributed works.
Of these works it is significant to make reference three of these works, Creole Boy with a
Moth, 1935, Portrait of a Black Man, 1935, and Portrait of a Man, Called Self-Portrait,
1839 as it relates to identifying people of color in works of art. Each of these works would lend themselves of significance of works depicting people of color with grace, dignity, style and prestige. During this time period, it was a rare group of portraits of people of color created by a person of color (2016). Creole Boy with a Moth depicts a child with dark eyes, short curly hair, and rosy complexion suggesting a mixed heritage.
Portrait of a Black Man captures a black man not in shackles, but as a strong man of character and distinguished personality. Curator William Rudolph states it reveals a self- assured man in the prime of his life (Rudolph, 2011). During the eighteenth and nineteenth century stereotypical images of African Americans were seen regularly.
African Americans were depicted pathetic, comical, horrifying and grotesque. African
Americans were typically stereotyped as lazy, ignorant and uncivilized: an inverse image of what it meant to be an American (“American Antiquarian Society,” 2006). Portrait of a Black Man by Hudson breaks away from the stereotypical images placed upon African
Americans during the nineteenth century. Avoidance of Afrocentric themes was common among black artists (Taha, 1998). Hudson would be one of the first African American artists to break away from the stereotype assigned to African Americans, as well as retrain a place among African American artists who avoided depicting themselves in order to be accepted among European cultural traditions. Hudson accomplished this through Portrait of a Black Man, and through Portrait of a Man, Called a Self-Portrait.
In terms of identity and self-awareness of African American artists, a self-portrait, is
28 symbolic of self-discovery, acceptance and pride in spite of the negative portrayal and restraints by society.
African American painters during the nineteenth century worked mainly in the genre of portraiture, landscapes, and still life. Understanding why African American artists limited themselves to such themes is important to developing knowledge of how it shaped African Americans artistic identity (Holland, 1998). Landscape and still life painting served as a window of acceptance for African American artists. The acceptance of being identified as fine artists took precedence over being identified as artists of color.
The subject matters of landscapes and still life were the only choices in which African
American artists could unreservedly assert a subject authority, free from the shadows of a racially divided society (1998). These works would also bear strong European influence and standards.
In the mid-nineteenth century African-American artists found themselves in a world in which their art forms were judged inferior and their cultural roots discredited. The only means to artistic acceptance required a commitment to European middle-class values and the rejection of everything African (Lewis, 1990). Imagine being made to feel less important simply based upon skin color, personal histories, and cultures.
Emancipation means to be free from restraint, control, or the power of another. The question to be asked is: Were African American artists truly free? The Emancipation
Proclamation, an executive order issued by President Lincoln in 1863 should have meant freedom for African Americans. While some American artists were slowly becoming more recognized and accepted as professional artists, theoretically, African Americans were still enslaved. African American artists still were not accepted widely in the
29 professional art scene. Identities were lost, cultural references were not the prioritized theme or subject matter. Even with the limitations placed on African-American artists during the mid-nineteenth century, artists like Robert Scott Duncanson, landscape painter, would become the first African American artist to achieve national and international prominence (Patton, 1998).
The purpose of highlighting Robert Scott Duncanson in this review covers more than his contribution to African American artists as a nationally and internally acceptance but also in the case of identity. Duncanson would come to Cincinnati, Ohio with the confidence in his identity and with the goal set on being an artist. Born in upstate New
York in 1823, Duncanson and his mother sought refuge in Canada. The only information known about his father was he was a Canadian of Scottish decent. His mother would return to Cincinnati, leaving Duncanson in his father’s care (Bearden and Henderson,
1993). Robert Duncanson would leave Canada in 1841 to join his mother in Cincinnati,
Ohio.
Being raised in his younger years in Canada, Duncanson attended excellent public schools and received an education that was systematically denied most Africans (Bearden and Henderson, 1993). Even more so he wasn’t made to feel inferior because of his race.
His sense of self, identity would not be affected. He would not have the apprehensions and inhibitions of most African Americans at this time. He was determined to be an artist, something that was publically unheard of for African Americans. Duncanson’s artistic abilities were better demonstrated in landscape painting (Patton, 1998). European artists, American landscape painters Thomas Cole and Asher B. Durand greatly
30 influenced Robert Duncanson’s style. Duncanson is listed among the Hudson River artists. Many of his paintings were beautifully painted landscapes of American scenes.
Referencing Robert Duncanson serves the purpose of this research because of
Duncanson is identified positively as an African American and is pigeon-holed into a stereotypical view. Needless to say, few African Americans’ painting made reference to heritage and African American culture. The only known painting by Duncanson in which the special concerns of blacks are the central subject matter is his painting Uncle Tom’s
Cabin, 1852. Landscape and still life type paintings were the only choices, in which
African American artists could unreservedly assert a subject authority, free of the shadows of racially divided society (Holland, 1998). Still life and landscape subject matter continued to be the dominate themes throughout the early 19th to late 19th century for African American artists with the exception of African American artist Henry Ossawa
Tanner.
Henry Ossawa Tanner’s academic background was in European American painting traditions. He received formative training in Paris, where he eventually made his home, traveling back home to Philadelphia periodically. Tanner was considered the painter of light and presented the African American figures in their true essence and identity. Identity was important for Henry Ossawa Tanner because identity is associated with freedom. Tanner demanded the right to construct an artistic and racial identity which allowed him the greatest freedom as an artist.
Henry Ossawa Tanner did not adhere to the tradition of landscapes, portraits and still life paintings. He focused on religious subjects with an emphasis on archaeological and ethnographic authenticity that had been lacking in other African Americans artistic
31 depictions (Holland, 1998). His paintings Banjo Lesson, 1893 and The Thankful Poor,
1894 are examples of such subject matter. Both paintings would break common stereotypical negative imagery of African Americans, identifying African Americans positively in everyday activities as ordinary people. Banjo Lesson, has become one of the most famous American paintings in the late ninetieth century (Lewis, 1990). Tanner, like many African American artists during this time, began with an interest in landscape painting. It was not until his teacher at Pennsylvania State, Thomas Eakins, encouraged him to paint genre subjects (1990). Eakins encouragement offered a new perspective for
Tanner’s work through his depictions of recreational activities, home life and above all the people of his native city. Eakins’ influence of color and fleeting light would remain throughout Tanner’s career. Banjo Lesson and The Thankful Poor would be the first of their kind of positive imagery of African Americans created by an African American artist.
Cultural challenges of identity leading into the twentieth century was being accepted by African American male artist who were becoming comfortable with creating images which reflected race. This cultural identity was also being accepted by African
American female artists. Meta Warrick Fuller (1877-1968) was the first African
American female sculptor to be recognized for sculptural works that celebrated the
African physique and African and African American folk culture (Holland, 1998).
Like Henry Ossawa Tanner, Meta Fuller had her formative years of art training in
Paris. She returned to the United States to work and live. She experienced racism and sexism which affected her as a sculptor. The racism of white America society and the
32 sexism embedded in white and black communities demanded that her role as mother, wife, and hostess supersede any artistic ambitions (Holland, 1998).
Many of Fuller’s sculptures produced while in Paris were destroyed by a devastating fire in her studio in 1910. Even with the destruction of her studio, there are two pieces created after the fire that represent African cultural influences and identity of the African American race, Emancipation, 1913 and Ethiopia Awakening, 1914.
Emancipation originally a plaster sculpture that would later be cast in bronze in 1999 and placed in Harriet Tubman Park in Boston, Massachusetts, is a sculpture of three African
Americans. A male standing in the front and female standing to the side looking upward and another female leaning onto the male figure head bowed and covered with her arm, and knee leaning upon the rooted surface. Emancipation (1913) is a powerful sculpture, bearing witness to the struggle, strength, and perseverance of African Americans.
Ethiopia Awakening makes reference to the African influence though other cultures. The sculpture bears an African American woman wrapped in ancient Egyptian garment, calling for attention to the African influence on western civilization. Meta Warrick Fuller became the first African American sculptor and woman sculptor to specialize in African
American folk themes (Ater, 2015). Remaking Race and History: the Sculpture of Meta
Fuller is a study by Renee Ater (2011), which focuses on the life and public sculpture of
Fuller and discusses her efforts to represent black identity. Fuller’s provided a window of progressive identity for fellow African American artists through her sculptures which addressed race, national identity, and culture (Ater, 2011). This progression would become known as the Harlem Renaissance.
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The Harlem Renaissance’s explorations of black identity are grounded in the history of survival strategies, as defined by nineteenth-century free blacks (Holland,
1998, p. 28). During this time, African Americans began to build their identities. They began to define a cultural vision of twentieth-century African American identity, “The
New Negro” (p.32) as including and embracing aspects of African heritage and develop these models of black identity that were created in white popular culture (Holland, 1998).
Socio-cultural Influences
The rejection of cultural subject matter in the artwork of African Americans in the art world at the turn of the twentieth century caused much frustration and as Lewis (1990) states “became individuals without a culture” (p. 24). Cultural opportunities sponsored by abolitionists, religious leaders, and cultural leaders helped make productive and meaningful careers possible for a number of promising artists (Lewis, 1990). The Harlem
Renaissance becomes significant because there was an embracing of Africanism, cultural heritage and or cultural influences. African American artists were taking ownership identity issues and cultural influences reflected in their choice of subject matter.
This section of the literature review will discuss the coming of age of African
American artists as it relates to embracing the histories of the past, creating influences for other African American artists through works of art as well as through identity of self through African American images not yet seen in early twentieth century depictions.
These artists would be the corner stone for many African American artists that followed them in the age of the Harlem Renaissance. Narratives of African American Identity
(1998), Harlem Renaissance Art of Black American (1987) and History of African
American Artists (1993) all discuss in different dimensions the coming of age African
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American artists during this time period. African American artists no longer stood behind works of art considered acceptable based on European standards. They created works of art that would rebuild a lost identity, as well as bring light into old and new
African American artistic identities. Their goal was to make every aspect of African
American and African life understood and appreciated by the entire country (Taha, 1998).
African American visual images created by African American artists identified explicitly and purposefully with African American history and culture. African American artists interpreted life through religion, histories, and everyday issues of life. Artists such as James Van Der Zee (1886-1983), an African American photographer, would capture the true essence of the Harlem Renaissance. African Americans would come to his studio to document important events and ceremonies. Van Der Zee documented the
Harlem Renaissance and the New Negro movement by photographically capturing the mood and spirit of the times. Through his photographs he was able to capture the extraordinary sense of self-esteem, style, and optimism (Campbell, 1987) of African
Americans; the return of their stolen cultures; and resurrected identities that were lost and hidden during the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries.
While James Van Der Zee captured identities through the lens of his camera, painter, Archibald J. Motley, Jr. (1891-1981) was doing the same through his paintings.
Archibald J. Motley, Jr. was the first artist to capture on canvas the African American social life. By doing so, Motley preserved for posterity memorable and celebratory scenes of African Americans in cities (Bearden and Henderson, 1993). Motley’s goal was to capture the spirit of black neighborhoods. His paintings captured mainly night scenes, local cotton clubs, backyard barbeques, and pubs. His paintings are said to reflect man’s
35 sensitivity to social forces as he turned to a life he knew best (Bearden and Henderson,
1993, p. 147). Motley’s desire as an African American artist was to express African
Americans honestly and sincerely. He portrayed African Americans as active, lively individuals, breaking down stereotypical imagery of blacks portrayed by European
American artists. His style of work was a different stylistic approach among African
American artists or European American artists. Although Motley is mostly known for his vibrant nightlife scenes of African Americans, he considered Mending Socks, 1924, to be his best work. It is a portrait of his beloved grandmother, conveying a sense of dignity and usefulness in old age (1993). Archibald Motley, Jr. presented a new view of African
Americans with bright bold colors and rays of light; he celebrated the essence of his cultural identity; as well as heightened a commonality by which all races could identify.
Before concluding a review of socio-cultural influences and identity of African
American artists, it is imperative to present the artist most often identified with the
Harlem Renaissance. Aaron Douglas (1899-1979) is perhaps the best known Harlem
Renaissance artist. Bearden and Henderson wrote that Douglas was the “black artist” of the time for any Americans who came of age between the 1920s and the 1940s, (Bearden and Henderson, 1993). Aaron Douglas works were a creation of mixed influences of
African culture and European artists. His work bridged the gap of cultural identity for
African American artists. His style depicted African cultures and interwoven into the identities of African Americans. Douglas presented the first modernist aesthetics of the
1920s (Taha, 1998).
Douglas’ murals representing origins, history, and the development of African
Americans identity (Campbell, 1987), have had a dramatic influence on the next
36 generation of African American artists. His murals described as a unique blend of history, religion, myth, politics, and social issues (1987), created lasting impressions on other young Harlem artists, such as Jacob Lawrence and Romare Bearden.
One of Douglas’ most celebrated series of paintings was created for poet James
Weldon Johnson for his book of poems God’s Trombones (1927). He created images inspired by stories from the Bible, Negro spirituals, recent black history, the customs of
Africans and Black Americans (Driskell, 1987). Aspects of Negro Life: From Slavery
Through Reconstruction (1934) is another example of Aaron Douglas’s ability to make the past part of the present. Using a warm color palette, silhouettes of African American figures blended from a more tribal symbolism, to the imagery of slavery to his present time period. Geometric pattern would flow throughout the mural changing to various shades and tints of Douglas’s palette. Aaron Douglas was the first artist to link modern
African Americans with their African heritage, identifying his people as a constructive force in American life (Bearden and Henderson, 1993). As this research expands and sources gathered, a more thorough and comprehensive review of Douglas as an art educator will be presented. He was an important early African American educator who pioneered the Fisk University Art Department.
These artists involved in the early stages of the Harlem Renaissance would begin their careers in the art academic or impressionist styles of the time, but during the Harlem
Renaissance they integrated a renewed perspective on the role of African American artists in their work (Taha, 1998). James Van Der Zee, Archibald Motley, Jr. and Aaron
Douglas were very aware of the impact of such a movement; they broke down stigma of
African American artists being inferior to European-American artists. No longer hiding
37 behind landscapes and still life painting, these Harlem Renaissance artists along with others were rewriting histories of negative portrayals of African American imagery and proving to be masters of their own right in art.
The Artist Teacher Training of African American Artist/Educator
This is a snapshot of artist training of AAA/Educators. It is intended to give the reader a glimpse beginning with the1930s. Professional African American artists were educated in predominately white and European institutions, which focused on European traditions (Holland, 1998; Lewis, 2003; Locke, 1940). This trend continued until desegregation of schools was ruled unconstitutional in the May 17, 1954 by the Supreme
Court; Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka, Kansas. However, court rulings did not bring about immediate integration of schools or the opportunity for African Americans to receive equal education opportunities. The U.S. Department of Education’s Schools and
Staffing Survey (SASS) provides a demographic snapshot of the nation’s primary- and secondary-school teachers in 2007-2008 (www.humanitiesindicators.org, 2010). These data revealed some striking discontinuities between the humanities and other subject areas with respect to the age, gender, and ethnic composition of their faculties (2010).
The survey makes known that the majority of humanities teachers were females. It further reported a teaching force that was three-quarters female, the gender distribution of humanities teachers was most similar to that of arts teachers (including teachers of studio art, dance, drama, and music), 70% of whom were women (2010). However, of the 70% less than 20% were African American. The survey stated that students were more than twice as likely as their teachers to be African American, Asian, or Native American.
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Before the civil rights movement, African Americans were largely barred from white-dominated institutions of higher education (Freemark, 2015). In the 1890s the second Morrill Land-Grant Act specified that states using federal higher education funds must provide an education to black students, either by opening the doors of their public universities to African Americans, or by establishing schools specifically to serve them
(2015). W.E.B Du Bois (1935) discussed in his book Black Reconstruction in America his views on the role of black colleges in American society. Du Bois felt black colleges were necessary for proper education of the Negro race, stating “the proper education of any people includes sympathetic touch between teacher and pupil; knowledge on the part of the teacher, not simply of the individual taught, but of his surroundings and background, and the history of his class and group” (Du Bois, 1935). Between the early
19th century and the inception and expansion of art departments in historically black colleges in the late 1930s, the attitude and approaches of African American artists changed dramatically through pedagogical practices (Bey, 2011).
Historically black colleges and universities often became the institutions of higher learning to hire African Americans. According to Michele Foster (1997) in her book Black Teachers on Teaching, historically black colleges prepare at least half of the
African American teachers that go into the teaching profession. HBCUs also provided primary training for African American artists, art historians, professors, and curators
(Conwill, 1998). The efforts to build art programs as one-man departments at historically black colleges, department directors took on the roles of curators, mentors, gallery directors while maintaining careers as professional artists (Bey, 2011; Kirschke, 1995;
Stroelting, 1978). Jennifer Martin (2011) discusses in Women as Leaders in Education
39 startling statistics that indicate only 20% of full-time professors are women, 34% are associate professors, 45% are assistant professors, and a high 51% are full-time instructors. The results for African Americans are also very low, representing a smaller proportion of full-time tenured than full-time tenure-track and non-tenure-track faculty.
Even a smaller percentage of African American faculties are fulltime professors than full- time assistant professors (Martin, 2011, p. 228). Even at historically black colleges, this percentage would still have some validity, seeing that many of the art programs are lead and developed by males. Texas Southern University’s art program was established by renowned artist/educator and philosopher, Dr. John T. Biggers. Hale Woodruff established Atlanta University, now known as Clark Atlanta University and Fisk
University, art program was lead and developed by Aaron Douglas. There is little brought to topic of the women; Selma Burke, Augustus Savage, or Lois Mailou Jones.
These are African American women that were artists, art historians, professors, curators, who filled the same roles that were primarily dominated by African American male artist/educators in historically black colleges and universities.
The opportunities for African American artists to hone their skill, take advantage of support networks and the community of artists, and to exhibit and sell their work was more limited than for European American artists (Holland, 1998). Artistic identity requires validation of a like community, and African American artists utilized every strategy they could to succeed in their endeavors. Whether trained in Europe or the
United States, African American artists found their best resources were among each other. A web of individual, institutional and community resources constructed and utilized were referred to as “the black academy” (Holland, 1998, p.31).
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One of the least explored areas of African American art history is the role of black institutions and individuals in nurturing the development of black artists (1998). More specifically, the exploration of the African American female art educators’ roles in
HBCU art programs has not been done. African American artists are currently being recognized on a greater scale by museums, galleries, and educational institutions.
However, it is important to recognize the importance of private and governmental support for African American artists from institutions such as the Harmon Foundation
(established in 1920 and the Works Progress Administration program (WPA, renamed in
1933). Both programs would serve as major supporters and patrons for African American artists. The Harmon Foundation sponsored the first exhibition exclusively for African
American artists in 1928 (Driskell, 1989). But these programs opportunities for African
American artists were limited to a specific time period to a particular kind of public art.
These programs’ good intentions offered misguided attempts to help inspiring African
American artists (Holland, 1998). Romare Bearden, an African American artist, wrote that such institutions caused major obstacles to the development of African American artists (Bearden, 1934).
African American artists would form art communities in efforts to encourage, instruct and mentor fellow artists. African American artists who also gain prominence during the Harlem Renaissance would also become devoted teachers along with their flourishing careers. African American artists combined their artistic endeavors with teaching careers dedicated to educating the next generation of African American artists
(Holland, 1998, p.33).
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African American artists such as Augusta Savage, James Lesesne Wells and
Charles Alston established and taught in Harlem art schools, where their studios also served as a community gathering place for practicing AA artists. Augusta Savage was one of the most influential teachers and mentors for African American artists in New
York during this period from 1930 -1940s (1998).
Augusta Savage began teaching in New York during the 1930s. She would go on to establish the Savage Studio of Arts and Crafts, some of her students included Norman
Lewis, Jacob Lawrence and his wife, then Gwendolyn Knight. She also held a position as director of the Works Projects Administration (WPA), which offered art instruction for all kinds of students (www.biography.com, 2016).
Historically, black colleges and universities, often the only institutions of higher learning to hire African Americans, provided a remarkable resource, not only in training and employing artists, but also by developing collections of African and African
American art, and creating a black cultural legacy (Holland, 1998). HBCUs employed numerous artists as teachers (Bearden and Henderson, 1993). These schools would emphasize the heritage of African art and the works of African American artists of past generations. HBCUs trustees had a long belief that African Americans should study only practical things, but with the production and attention many of their professors of art were receiving they were to soon change their minds and began to offer art and art education as a serious area of study (1993). The majority of students who attended
HBCUs in the South experienced original art work by professional artists for the first time on the HBCU campus.
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Historically, black colleges and universities provided primary training for African
American artists, art historians, professors, and curators (Conwill, 1999). John Biggers, the founder and the art department at Texas Southern University, in Houston, TX, studied under Elizabeth Catlett and Charles White during his formative early years at Hampton
University. Samella Lewis also studied with Elizabeth Catlett at Dillard University
(1999) under Victor Lowenfield who introduced Discipline Based Art Education
(DBAE). Lois Mailou Jones and James Lesesne Wells were art instructors at Howard
University while Elizabeth Catlett was a student (1999). Hale Woodruff used his tenure as a professor at Dillard University in New Orleans, Louisiana, to affect some remarkably far-reaching support systems for African American artists (Holland, 1998). Historically, black colleges and universities exhibited and collected works of art. Many HBCUs have extensive collections of art. Clark Atlanta University, Fisk University, Hampton
University, Howard, North Carolina Central University and Tuskegee University represent some of the most significant examples (Conwill, 1999, p. 11). Tougaloo
College in Mississippi has, in addition to the work of African American artists, has the finest collection of modern art in the state (Bearden and Henderson, 1993).
Summary
In this chapter, I have reviewed historical literature discussing identity, socio- cultural influences and the teacher training of African American artist/educators. I have given a historical perspective of visual arts from slavery, through the Civil Rights era and the transformative period of the Harlem Renaissance. While more details would present itself in future research, this chapter gives a microcosmic view of the larger study. An overview of the challenges that impeded the progress of the African American artist
43 while implying that HBCUs served as rescue havens is presented in this chapter to help establish the rationale for the study. The following section discusses the research methodology for this study.
Chapter III
Methodology
Research in art education is about searching and critically examining theory and practice with an aim toward creating, critiquing, extending, revising, rejecting, and constructing new knowledge based on rigorous and exhaustive inquiry methods and methodologies (Zimmerman, 2005). This qualitative case study inquiry focused on
Tougaloo College, a historically black college, located in Jackson, MS, and the art teacher foundational training for African American female artists/educators identifying socio-cultural influences, obstacles experienced in teacher training, and pedagogical foundations received.
Qualitative Inquiry
As a researcher in art education, it is necessary to systematically understand experiential information through qualitative and quantitative methods and methodologies
(Stokrocki, 1991). Quantitative study aims to make general statements that are supported by verifiable statistics and results that can be replicated in future studies conducted in other settings, qualitative research aims to present an in-depth portrait of a single, localized program, event or situation (O’Farrell & Meban, 2003).
Qualitative inquiry can be explained as an effort to understand situations in their uniqueness as part of a particular context and the interactions that occur (Merriam, 2003;
Patton, 2015). John Creswell (2017) states narrative inquiry, phenomenology, grounded theory, ethnography and case study as five approaches of qualitative inquiry. Of these approaches, as well as a single focus, a persuasive account, a reflection on the researchers
45 own history, culture, personal experiences, and ethical practices all contribute to a strong qualitative research (Creswell, 2017). This study is a qualitative intrinsic case study.
Case Study
Case study is an intensive description and analysis of a phenomenon or social unit such as an individual, group, institution, or community (Merriam, 2002). Tom Barone and Elliot Eisner (1997) state “art based researchers aim to suggest new ways of viewing educational phenomena” (p. 96). I examined the experiences of art teacher training and pedagogical practices received through attending a historically black college, specifically
Tougaloo College, of African American female artists/educators. Many of the artists I discussed in my literature review, Henry Ossawa Tanner (1859-1937), Augusta Savage
(1892-1962), Lois Mailou Jones (1905-1998), Elizabeth Catlett (1915-2012), and John
Biggers (1924-2001), were art educators that attended, graduated, and/or went on to establish, teach, and head Art departments at historically black colleges and universities.
I used the intrinsic case study qualitative research method. Intrinsic case study focus is on the case itself, because the case presents an unusual or unique situation
(Creswell, 2017). Robert Stake (2010) states an intrinsic case study “purpose is not to understand some abstract construct or generic phenomenon or theory building, but of the study is undertaken because of an intrinsic interest” (p.136). This study is a case study that focused on African American female artists/educators, identifying their socio- cultural influences, obstacles, and experiences in teacher training and pedagogical foundations through attending Tougaloo College, a historically black college.
A qualitative case study is a type of research where in-depth data is collected from a single individual, program or event with the purpose of learning more about the
46 unknown (Leedy & Ormond, 2005, Njie & Asunuran, 2014). Furthermore, the case study is a distinction of a group, area or situation for the purpose to understand and explain how it is living its case of interest (Njie & Asunuran, 2014).
Research Question
This study is aimed at answering the following question: How were African
American female artists/educators from Tougaloo College influenced through the pedagogical practices and teacher training they had received as fine arts students?
Supporting questions will serve to assist in answering the central question:
• How were they influenced through the art program?
• What advantages, obstacles or barriers did they experience as fine arts students at
Tougaloo College?
• How did their experiences inform their own approach of teaching art?
The main objective of this study is to assess the impact of the art program for
African American female artist/educators as students at Tougaloo College within the time period 1968 through 1998 and furthermore how particular experiences carried over into their own pedagogical practices. In this study, pedagogical ideas include insights on the nature of teaching and learning, evident in the instructional practices of outstanding teachers, their philosophies concerning teaching of multicultural students, insights into forms of instruction commonly used by art teachers to this point and time, their perceptions of problems in teaching art to preadolescents (Stokrocki, 1991).
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Pedagogy can vary among colleges and universities in general, therefore it is necessary to conduct an in-depth qualitative inquiry that delves into one historically black college to systematically understand the art program pedagogical practices.
Subjectivity Statement
Subjectivity refers to how the research is shaped by the values, interest and experiences of the researcher. A subjectivity statement is provided so that all related experiences are presented transparently (Knopf, 2004). I positioned myself within study because, the field of art education has personal connections with the researcher in several areas. This process began with a simple question: “What is my passion?” The response translated into this research. Serving 15 years in the education arena, specifically art education the cultural gaps were obvious and little methods were in place to reduce or even close those gaps that exist within this field. The most obvious gap is the lack of
African American female artists in secondary education and the second being the over emphasis of Caucasian European artists’ contribution to foundations and principles of art concepts being taught. This became the platform of study and the focal point of research surrounded the theoretical perception of educational foundations and it is correlation to developing art educators.
In an effort to narrow the scope of this research, the historically black college and university (HBCU) that the researcher matriculated through, Tougaloo College, was selected as the target area, from this notion five participants were interviewed who also received their formal art and educational training from Tougaloo College. The participants also were female African American art educators professionally. The
48 intention of the research was to explore the under representation of female African
American art educators, therefore, selecting five participants that fell within that purview could help the reader understand the importance of diversity within art classrooms and the positive impact of having a culturally inclusive curriculum.
The participants attributed their connection to art education and their ability to infuse their formal training into their classrooms with their experiences at Tougaloo
College. The findings revealed that knowledge based gaps existed with the art program at
Tougaloo for the older participants, but gradually that gap significantly reduced as revealed by the younger participants. The older participants shared their experiences as being a part of the art program during its inception and from there, able to develop and shape other art programs at Tougaloo College and at other establishments.
There are biases that exist within this study, which are acknowledged throughout the reading. Tougaloo College is the foundation of where the researcher gained the knowledge and training to become an art instructor. One of the participants shares a maternal bond with the researcher, in which is revealed throughout the study. Although, personal connections exist, the research was designed to shed light on the under representation of African American female artists and the lack of cultural inclusiveness within art education.
Regardless of the identified partiality, the research opens the opportunity to explore and expand art education theories and curriculum development to be more representative of African American female artists and culturally conscious when developing art prospectus. This examination of art the education training of five African-
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American Women at one HBCU in Mississippi is transferable to the larger context of art education and lack of minority representation. The same can be said for other minority groups, Latino, Native American, Asian and Middle Eastern because the traditional artistic canon on which we reference has been historically Eurocentric. The researcher, an
African American female art education trained at an HBCU investigates this topic not only counter narrative, but also to open the door for further inclusion and diversity in the field the researcher has dedicated her life to.
Participants
The five participants for this study identify as African American Female artist/educators. They represent Tougaloo Alumna and Fine Arts graduates of the visual arts program. Participants were selected through purposeful sampling. Purposeful sampling is the process in which the researcher selects a sample based on experience or knowledge of the group to be sampled (Patton, 2015). Three participants responded to an interest flyer emailed through Tougaloo College’s Visual Arts department, then followed by a questionnaire, which was emailed directed to those who responded to the flyer. A fourth participant is currently the Museum Curator and professor of art at Tougaloo
College, and I included myself as a researcher-participant.
All of the participants are graduates of Tougaloo College with a degree in Fine
Arts received between the years of 1969 and 1998. The participants range between the ages of 41 and 70 with five years or more of teaching experience in the teaching field of art education in k-12, higher education or both. I elected to study participants that graduated between the years of which Tougaloo College art program was established and
50 growth of the department through professors and courses offered. Below is a brief description of each participant. All participants agreed to disclose their identities for the purpose of this study. Pseudonyms were not used.
Dorothy Vaughn
Dorothy Vaughn is a native of Mississippi. She is a 70-year-old African American female who graduated from Tougaloo College in 1969, being one of the first to graduate with a Bachelor of Arts degree in Visual Arts. Ms. Dorothy is known for her artistic hats, head-wraps and colorful outfits. She is currently Assistant Professor of Art at a historically black college located in the Delta region Mississippi, where she has dedicated
31 years of teaching Art Studio, Art History and Art Appreciation.
Johnnie Mae Maberry
Johnnie Mae Maberry is a native of Mississippi. She is a 69-year-old African
American female who graduated from Tougaloo College in 1970 with a Bachelor of Fine
Arts degree in Visual Arts. Professor Maberry is held in high esteem by students, staff and faculty throughout the campus of Tougaloo College where she has taught for over 25 years. She currently serves as Museum Curator on Tougaloo College campus and is
Assistant Professor of Art. She is also the mother of the researcher, Lynnette Gilbert.
Felicia Wolfe
Felicia Wolfe is a native of Mississippi. She is a 46-year-old African American female who graduated from Tougaloo College in 1993 with a Bachelor of Fine Arts
51 degree in Visual Arts. Felicia is a vivacious personality shows through her work as well as in her career as art educator and educational leader. Before accepting administrative position within the public school system, Felicia taught 5 years of art in middle school and 8 years of high school art through an International Baccalaureate program. She also teaches adjunct at Tougaloo College teaching Art Appreciation when her schedule permits.
Lynnette Gilbert
Lynnette Gilbert is from Mississippi. She is a 41-year-old African American female who graduated from Tougaloo College in 1997 with a Bachelor of Arts degree in
Visual Arts. She has taught high school art for 15 years, 10 years in Memphis, TN and currently she resides and teaches in Houston, TX. Lynnette also has served as adjunct professor at Tougaloo College, a community college in Memphis, TN as well as two universities in Houston, TX.
Lakeitha Bassett
Lakeitha Bassett is a native of Mississippi. She is a 42-year-old African American female who graduated from Tougaloo College in 1998 with a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in Visual Arts with an emphasis in Art Education. Ms. Bassett taught elementary art for 5 years in Houston, TX before accepting her current position as a middle school art teacher. She has been in the field of art education for 9 years.
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Figure 1. Summary of Participants
Participants Major Year of Years of Division Currently in Graduation Experience Art Tougaloo Education College Dorothy Art 1969 35 Higher Education Yes Johnnie Mae Art 1970 30 Higher Education Yes Felicia Art 1993 13 Middle No School/High School Lakeitha Art/Art 1998 9 Elementary/Middle Yes Education School Emphasis Researcher Art 1997 15 High School/Higher Yes Education
Figure 2. Summary of Participants’ Art Professors, Majors, and Years at Tougaloo College
Participants Years at Tougaloo Professors Major Undergraduate Dorothy 4 Professor Ronald Art Schnell and two full time professors for one year
Johnnie Mae 4 Professor Ronald Art Schnell and two full time professors for one year
Felicia 5 Professor Ronald Art Schnell, Professor Johnnie Mae Maberry, and one additional full-time professor
Lakeitha 4 Professor Johnnie Art with an emphasis Mae Maberry and in Art Education one additional full-
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time professor
Lynnette 4 Professor Johnnie Art Mae Maberry and one additional full- time professor
Setting
Interviews were conducted and recorded in-person, Skype, or by telephone. Time and date of each interview was determined by participants’ availability. Participants were allowed to choose the setting where data was collected. The interviews sites varied from public restaurants, private offices, conferences, Skype and telephone.
Participant Dorothy Vaughn’s interview was conducted over the phone.
Participant Felicia Wolfe’s interview was conducted at her administrative office located in a public high school in Jackson, MS. Participant Lakeitha Bassett’s interview was conducted at a local restaurant in Houston, TX. Participant Johnnie Mae Maberry, whose interviews were used as a part of a pilot study, were conducted on three separate interview sites. The first interview was answered through email correspondence, the second interview was conducted as a follow up from the email correspondence, in New
Orleans during out attendance at the National Art Education Association Annual
Conference at a hotel. Our final interview was conducted via Skype. Researcher’s interview as also conducted via Skype.
Access and Entry
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The University of Houston contends that the dissertation committee of the doctoral candidate must approve dissertation research, through an official dissertation proposal. The researcher must also obtain permission from the Institution Review Board
(IRB). Any faculty, staff or students research involving the use of human subjects must have approval from the IRB prior to the recruitment of the participants. To obtain compliance, I received approval from my committee, then I submitted the required IRB approval application. The application consisted of IRB research protocol, which was an overview of the proposed research, letter of authorization from Tougaloo College, recruitment flyer, consent form, participant questionnaire and interview protocol were submitted to the IRB office for review and approval by appointed board member.
Once I received IRB approval, I recruited potential participants through Tougaloo
College Art Department. I emailed the recruitment flyer to Tougaloo Art Department
Assistant Art Professor, who provided me with a list of female artists/educators that graduated from Tougaloo between 1968 and 2000, and agreed to forward the recruitment flyer to potential participants. Potential participants were identified and sent a short seven question questionnaire. Originally six responded to the flyer, however only four completed the questionnaire and consist forms. Participants were asked to participate on a voluntary basis. The consent form was to ensure proper protocol were followed during the study.
Data Collection
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Data collection in case study is a significant process based on the method of which the data is collected will uncover relevant details about the inquired situation. In case study six major sources identified by researchers (Yin, 1994; Stake, 1995; Leedy &
Ormrod,2005: Njie & Asunuran, 2014) are direct observation; interview; documents; archival records; physical artifacts and/or participant observation. I collected data through general background questionnaires and semi-structured interviews.
Interviews were the primary data source. The five participants were interviewed once. Each interview was approximately 45 minutes to an hour. Such small studies enable the researcher to gain deeper understanding of participants’ experience and to develop a thick, rich description of the experience (Merriam, 2009; Creswell, 2017).
Secondary sources include archival documents from Tougaloo College that outline the development of the art program and courses offered before and after art was an approved major (Appendix G), and The Silver Jubilee (1988) exhibition catalog for
Tougaloo College Art Collection 1963-1988. The Silver Jubilee publication provided insight on the art program at Tougaloo College, as well as documents in which participants were willing to share to assist with the study. These documents include the following:
• Participant Tougaloo College transcript (Appendix H)
• Two letters to participants from Professor Ronald Schnell (Appendix I)
• A Letter to Professor Ronald Schnell from a participant (Appendix J)
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Other data sources include previous interviews conducted as a pilot study, which focused on my interview with Johnnie Mae Maberry, an art professor and graduate from
Tougaloo College, as well as an interview my university professor conducted of me.
Interview Protocol
A Background questionnaire (Appendix E) allowed me to gather general information about participants. I used the background questionnaire to find specific information from an historically black college, major and minors pertaining to art and art education, and experience in the field of art education. The questionnaire consisted of seven short- answer questions. Using the participants’ questionnaire responses, I developed the interview protocol using the Phil Carspecken model (see figure 3).
Qualitative researchers interested in the ethnographic and oral history traditions of the field, collect people’s life stories in order to study various aspects of the human experience and the primary way we gather stories is by interviewing people (Jacob and
Furgerson, 2012). The most effective way to use qualitative interviews with participants is to get them to describe events they remember taking part in: to begin at a covert level where a specific action situation is recalled and then work toward articulations of interpretative schema that the participant applies in many diverse situations (Carspecken,
1996). The in-depth interview method is open-ended and discovery oriented, having the goal of exploring participants’ experiences, perceptions, feelings, and beliefs
(Carspecken,1996; Holstein & Gubrium, 2003, Kvale,1996; Rubin & Rubin, 2005).
I referred to the Phil Carspecken’s design to develop the interview protocol. Based on the design model the interview protocol consisted of the following components:
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• Two to five topic domains
• One lead-off question for each domain
• Covert categories
• Possible follow-up questions for each domain (Carspecken, 1996, p.157)
Figure 3. Carspecken Interview Protocol Model (1996)
Interview Protocol
Domain I-Domain III
Follow-Up Questions Covert Categories (possible questions Lead off Question (things to address that could be asked if (opens up the topic) with the interview) responses are not enough)
A researcher’s interview protocol is an instrument of inquiry—asking questions for specific information related to the aims of a study (Patton, 2015). The topic domain sets up the direction of the interview, whereas the leadoff questions are designed to open up a topic that one wishes the participant to address (Carspecken, 1996). Appendix F outlines the interview protocol for this study.
Once a topic domain is opened up, the interviewee may organically address the covert categories with the follow-up questions. “Essentially, while some follow-up questions
58 and prompts will surface on the spot, a researcher may want to think of some possible follow-up questions likely needed to solicit further detail and depth from participants”
(Castillo-Montoya, 2016, p.824).
Data Analysis
Qualitative insights and conclusions can be validated by the extent and diversity of the researcher’s data collection and by the systematic approach that the researcher applies to analyzing the data (Merriam, 2009). Data analysis searches to describe general statements about relationships and themes presented in the data, the process of unveiling these relationships in the data come after all interviews have been transcribed.
Transcription is considered to be a representational process (Bucholtz, 2000; Green,
Franquiz & Dixon, 1997) that encompasses what is represented in the transcript (e.g., talk, time, nonverbal actions, speaker/hearer relationships and physical orientation).
Interviews were recorded using two devices, a small hand held recorder and voice recorder using a cellular device. Participant Dorothy Vaughn’s interview was conducted over the phone and was recorded using a recording device on the computer as well as hand held recorder. After interviews were successfully completed, they were transcribed by researcher using word processing software and formatted using line numbering to reference data in coding analysis. After transcriptions were completed the process of coding analysis began.
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Coding
Coding analysis is the process of organizing and sorting data. “Coding is often looking for repetitive patterns or consistency” (Hedlund-de Witt, 2013, p.3). I looked for patterns, meaning and reoccurring themes. There are two different levels of coding, low- levels and high-levels (Carspecken, 1996). According to Karen Charmaz (2006), lower level coding is one way to label themes. Low-level coding are general, there is no interpretation between what is said and what is meant, whereas high-level coding presents more of a meaning based on more than what is actually said during the interview. It is suggested to generate low-level codes to generate and index and then formulate possible high-level codes during the analysis. The high-level codes were established for final analysis.
I developed three themes formulated through low-level coding that represented a pattern throughout the data. Examples of low-level codes were, choosing Tougaloo
College, perceptions, and transfer of knowledge.
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Table 1. Low-level and High Level
Low Level Choosing Tougaloo College • High Level: Legacy "My mother had been an alumnus of Tougaloo"(DV 1/Lines 13-14)
Low Level Experience and Perceptions • High Level: Influences "Being introduced to my art mentor; seeing my irst original artworks, getting my irst real training in drawing and paintin, being able to express myself as an African-American artist" (JM Interview 1, 1/Lines 40-43)
Low Level Transfer of Knowledge • High Level: Teacher Practices "It used a lot of background information, you know art history part of it" (FW 4/Line 164)
Through coding the data, I looked for reoccurring or common themes that develop with each participant. To conclude, I applied triangulation of patterns and themes, between data that was received from participants.
Triangulation
Triangulation is a powerful way of demonstrating concurrent validity, particularly in qualitative research (Campbell & Fiske, 1959). Perone and Tucker (2003) state
“triangulation provides confirmation and completeness through not simply combining different types of data, but to relate the two types of information” (p. 2). Triangulation, according to Miles and Huberman (1994) there are five types of triangulation in qualitative research:
• Triangulation by data source (data collected from different persons, or at different
times, or from different places);
• Triangulation by method (observation, interviews, documents, etc.);
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• Triangulation by researcher (comparable to interrater reliability in quantitative methods);
• Triangulation by theory (using different theories, for example, to explain results);
• Triangulation by data type (e.g., combining quantitative and qualitative data).
The type of triangulation chosen for this study was triangulation by data source.
Triangulation by data source served to best fit this study based on the data collected through interviews of five participants, sharing their experiences at Tougaloo College between 1968 thru 1998. Triangulation is used in interpretive research to investigate different viewpoints, the same method, accounts, which will naturally produce different sets of data (Cohen, Manion, & Morrison, 2007). Triangulation created a level of understanding to the study through reviewing the data in a comparative analysis format.
Limitations of the Study
Limitations of the study is the minimal resources available especially concerning
African Americans female artist/educators. Research concerning African American artist/educators include, Dr. J. Eugene Grigsby, Jr. Art & Ethnics: Background for teaching youth in a pluralistic society (1977), Sharif Bey Aaron Douglas and Hale
Woodruff: Social Responsibility and Expanded Pedagogy of the Black Artist (2007),
Donald Elisha Sheppard’s Constructing Community: The Glenn Brothers, Art Education, and Tallahassee’s Frenchtown 1957-1967 (2013), and Reginald Stephens study, Dr.
Eugene Grigsby’s Connections to Art, African American Life in the South, and Social
Justice Education: Implications for Art Education Curriculum (2015). While these serve as valid and rich resources, the list beyond these sources are small concerning African
Americans in art education. Where there are publications, biographies and online
62 resources that showcase and discuss the artwork and lives of African American artists, there still is little research about African Americans as art educators, even more so
African American female artist/educators.
The study focused on African American female artists/educators from one historically black college, Tougaloo College. The small sample size of participants was selected through purposeful sampling. Purposeful sampling is a technique that can be used in qualitative research for the selection of information-rich cases for the most effective use of limited resources (Patton, 2014). This also involves identifying and selecting individuals that are especially knowledgeable or experienced with the case of interest (Cresswell &Plano Clark, 2017).
The small sample size, poses the same concern of limiting the research to a singular perceptive on art education foundations only at Tougaloo college by Tougaloo graduates. In future research, gathering participants from other art programs at different schools would possibly offer deeper insight in foundational connections to art instructional implementation in classroom settings.
Interviews are intimate and meaningful, however time consuming and tedious to measure, the nature of scheduling and actually conducting the interviews limits the study to the number of people the researcher could interview in a small timeframe. Future consideration of surveying participants oppose to interviewing could potentially expand the researcher further and explore other categories in proving the female under representation and culturally exclusivity in art education.
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Summary
In this chapter, I have defined and discussed qualitative research and case study as the method of qualitative inquiry used for the study. This chapter also identified the purpose of qualitative case study method within this section, research question and supporting questions addressed in the study. Brief descriptions of participants, setting and population and the source of data were included in this chapter as well as explaining the use of triangulation as a method of analysis of data collected. This section also includes the outline of the interview protocol, and appendix of IRB approval, flyer for recruitment, questionnaire and interview protocol for the study. Data analysis and limitation of study were also identified in this chapter. The next chapter discusses the findings of the research.
Chapter IV
Findings
Few studies focus on the legacy of African American art education that emerged concurrently with the New Negro movement (Bey, 2017), furthermore studies focusing on the impact of African American female artists (2017). “History is the result of a process of selection in which some facts are chosen and others ignored” (Stankiewicz,
1997, p. 58) Dr. Pamela Lawton (2017) states “similarly, the histories of Black American art educators are often neglected and unpublished” (Lawton, 2017, p. 101). This research looks into the phenomena of five African American female artist/educators from the same education foundation of attending and graduating from a historically black college and their experiences.
The purpose of this research was to examine the pedagogical practices African
American female artist/educators received as an art student at a historically black college, more specifically, one particular HBCU, Tougaloo College. Case study was utilized as the qualitative method of research. A case study acts as a holistic inquiry by looking at the process or practice, the interaction within such a process and the meaning of such interaction for a more generic understanding of the study (Njie & Asimiran, 2014). There were five African American females involved in this study, Dorothy Vaughn, Johnnie
Mae Maberry, Felicia Wolfe, Lakeitha Bassett, and myself, Lynnette Gilbert. All participants were graduates of Tougaloo College with a Bachelor of Arts degree in visual arts. Participants’ ages range from 41-70-years of age. All participants agreed to disclose their identities for the purpose of this study. Pseudonyms were not used.
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The findings are separated into three categories and presented through themes found in categories based on participants’ interview. The categories and themes are as followed:
1. Choosing Tougaloo College
a. Legacy
b. High Academic Standards
c. Segregation in the South and Fairness during the Civil Rights Movement
2. Experience and Perception
a. Coursework and Professors
b. Personal view
c. Influences
3. Transfer of Knowledge
a. Impact of teacher influence in personal teaching methods
b. Diversity in Teaching
Tougaloo College: a brief description
Tougaloo College, founded in 1869, is a historically black four-year liberal arts college. Tougaloo College sits on 500 acres of land on West County Line Road in
Tougaloo, Mississippi, which is on the northern edge of Jackson, Mississippi
(www.tougaloo.edu, 2016). It is a small private college, with total enrollment approximately 900 students (Peterson’s, 2016; US News ranking and reviews, 2016).
Female enrollment is currently 65% , and male enrollment is 35%. Tougaloo College offers 29 majors. In addition to these 29 majors, six allow students to add one or more special emphases such as Accounting, Business Administration, Community Health,
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Computer Science, Health Education, Journalism, and Recreation for Special Populations and Social Work (www.tougaloo.edu, 2016). Within those 29 majors, students of art may select to major in art or art education.
Dr. Barry Gaither, director of the Museum of the National Center of Afro-
American artists in Boston, Massachusetts delivered a lecture at Tougaloo College in
1988, in his lecture he makes reference to Howard University, one of the first black colleges to establish an art department in the 1930s (Schnell, 1988). Dr. Gaither would also point out some well-known teacher/artist/curators were among those who pioneered art departments in black colleges and universities, such as Hale Woodruff (Atlanta
University [Clark Atlanta, Atlanta, Georgia] James Porter [Howard University,
Washington, D.C.], Ronald Schnell [Tougaloo College, Jackson, MS], William Jennings,
Lawrence Jones and John Biggers [Texas Southern University, Houston, TX] (1988).
Prior to Ronald Schnell’s appointment to Tougaloo College in 1959, there was no formal art program. In 1962, as Professor Schnell would state, marked the turning point in the development of Tougaloo’s art program. Upon visiting James Porter, chair of the art department at Howard University, in the spring of 1962, Schnell would receive an outlined five-year plan to establish an art department from Porter. Exactly five years later, in the fall of 1967, the art major was approved along with a modest budget to buy art supplies (Schnell, 1988).
Choosing Tougaloo College
“The experience of students who attend HBCUs indicates that race-related reasons do indeed play a role in college choice” (Van Camp, Barden, Slan, & Clarke,
2009, p. 458). Each participant shared of how they came to choose Tougaloo College as
67 their HBCU. Through interviews I found a common thread that were based one or more of the following of reasons why they chose to attend Tougaloo College:
1. Legacy
2. High academic standards
3. Segregation in the South during the Civil Rights Movement
Legacy
Participant, Dorothy Vaughn, would enroll at Tougaloo College in 1964. Dorothy has a family legacy at Tougaloo College stemming from her mother, aunt, and cousins.
“At the time that I enrolled in Tougaloo, my mother had been an alumnus of Tougaloo, my aunt, that is my mother’s oldest sister, um a first cousin and his sister was already attending Tougaloo College, so a lot of it is cause of my relatives” (1/Lines 10-12).
Participant Felicia Wolfe, enrolled at Tougaloo for the same reason of family ties, noting that it was also decided for her during her youth that she would attend Tougaloo
College. “Did I decide, I don’t think I decided, it was kind of decided for me, because both my parents went to an HBCU. I applied at Tougaloo because I was told that’s where
I was going” (1/Lines 10-13). She would further explain that her mother and father both were graduates from Tougaloo College and wanted to continue the legacy. “Because my mom and my dad went to Tougaloo and they said one of their children was going to
Tougaloo so it ended up being me.” (1/Lines 13-14).
My decision for attending Tougaloo was very similar to Felicia’s, my mother wanted her children to attend her alma mater. This was further determined by the circumstance of my oldest brother receiving a scholarship to a non-HBCU in Mississippi, as a result, the Tougaloo legacy within my own family would have to continue with me
68 and would later be carried on through my younger siblings. I don’t readily recall applying to the college, but rather my goals were set to attend another HBCU out of the state of Mississippi. Inevitably I was accepted into Tougaloo College.
Participant, Lakeitha Bassett, would enroll at Tougaloo College in the fall of
1994. Lakeitha knew she would attend an HBCU, because of a long stem history from her great grandparents, who attended HBCUs. Lakeitha’s dilemma would be deciding on which HBCU to attend. “I wanted to attend a HBCU versus a non-historically black college because my family…um…my family back to my great grand-father went to an
HBCU and most people can’t say that their great grandparents went to college” (1/Lines
11-13). Lakeitha, had narrowed her selection down to three HBCUs, one in Louisiana and two in Mississippi. “my cousin, my first cousin…and you know at the time, he was going to or had just graduated from Tougaloo, and at the last minute I had applied to Tougaloo, cause, it wasn’t even on my radar.” (2/Lines 34-35).
Even though she had a great aunt that attended Tougaloo College, it would be her first cousin, a recent graduate from Tougaloo that would be her deciding factor for attending the college. “I started talking to my cousin and he was telling me all the good things about Tougaloo so I was like, great aunt went there…so I was like [thinking of family legacy], you know what? Imma keep this in the family. I’m about to go to
Tougaloo” (2/Lines 38-40).
High Academic Standards and Reputation
Johnnie Mae Maberry, would enrolled at Tougaloo College in 1965, a year after
Dorothy Vaughn. Johnnie Mae would be the start of her family legacy at Tougaloo
College. Like Lakeitha, she knew she would attend an HBCU, “For me attending an
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HBCU was the best and only choice” (1/Line 24). When asked why Tougaloo College, one of her first responses were academic and reputation, “The reputation of the school historically and academically. It was the number one school in the south. It produced world-renowned educators, and professionals in a broad spectrum of careers” (1/Lines
31-33). She continued to discuss how impressed she was with the students that attended
Tougaloo College, “Once I had the opportunity to observe very impressive -student teachers from Tougaloo at my high school during my senior year, I applied to no other school” (1/Lines 35-37). Dorothy Vaughn, who was an academic scholar at her high school, would state something very similar as another reason why she chose to attend
Tougaloo, “during the time Tougaloo had very high standards. The students who enrolled in Tougaloo were usually in the top 10 [percent] of their high school class, and I graduated salutatorian of my high school class of 100 and something students” (1/Lines
13-15). She would mention once again during the interview of Tougaloo’s academic excellence, “because of Tougaloo’s academic reputation, which was excellent” (1/Lines
25-26).
Through the interviews of Dorothy Vaughn and Johnnie Mae Maberry, both would discuss how choosing Tougaloo went deeper than just legacy and academic standards. They would also enroll at Tougaloo College at the height of the Civil
Rights movement in the South.
Segregation in the South during the Civil Rights Movement
Walter B. Hill (2007) stated “African American history in the United States includes the expansive efforts by African descended people to grain freedom from slavery, to become U.S. citizens, and obtain the right to vote and other civil rights
70 guaranteed by the U.S. Constitution” (p. 96). Historically black colleges and universities played an instrumental role in the transformation of America during the civil rights movement (Cole, 2009). Their academic and cultural missions were to elevate the
African American community through education (2009). Tougaloo College would be at the center of this movement, serving as teacher training school for anyone regardless of race.
Tougaloo College was the forefront of the Civil Rights Movement in Mississippi,
serving as the safe haven for those who fought for freedom, equality and justice
and the sanctuary within which the strategies were devised to implemented to end
segregation and improve race relations (Tougaloo College, pg. 4)
The right to quality education without hostilities that enshroud educational segregation and to receive an education without being treated unfairly would be reasons for Johnnie
Mae and Dorothy to choose to attend Tougaloo College. Johnnie Mae illuminates this in reflecting “Choosing an HBCU certainly had much to do with the segregation practices in
MS during the 60s” (1/Line 25). She would continue by briefly discussing the civil rights movement and why it was important for her to attend Tougaloo, “The history of the Civil
Rights movement began in 1963 in Mississippi. While I approved of desegregation, I did not wish to be one who had to deal with integrating the local white colleges and being subjected to racist, unfair treatment and assessments” (1/Lines 26-28).
Dorothy would state something similar as a reason for attending Tougaloo
College, “during the time I enrolled into Tougaloo College, the predominantly white schools were not, in the south, were not admitting blacks” (1/Line 17). It would not be until Dorothy’s junior year before a non-HBCU in Mississippi would admit their first
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African American student. “The student who entered [stating the institutions name] and at the time, and he got into the school during my junior year at Tougaloo College”
(1/Lines 23-25). Historically black colleges severed as leaders in organizing major movements in the fight for civil rights, and Tougaloo College would be noted as one of the key players in the south.
Initially, I inquired why they selected an HBCU, and more specifically, Tougaloo
College. However, I was able to discover a deeper understanding of why these participants elected to attend Tougaloo. Ultimately, it came to rest on something greater than the art program in general. The reputation of the institution and its academic standard, family tradition, and most notably, segregation and the civil rights movement in the south appear to be foundational in unchaining educational segregation from the vision of a community in progressing an agenda for civil rights.
Experiences and Perceptions
The participants were very open and honest about their experiences at Tougaloo
College. I sought to get a greater understanding of what each participant experience was as an art student. I wanted to know who their professors were, what courses they took and how they felt about the courses, what they had learned and how those experiences influenced them while at Tougaloo, as well as after. As the participants shared and through analysis of the data I found two common themes:
1. Common experiences and Personal experiences,
2. Instructional Influences
a. The Johnnie Mae Maberry Influence
b. The Professor Ronald Schnell Influence
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Each theme will be discussed in this section of findings.
Common and Personal Experiences
The art department is a small department at Tougaloo College. The classes were once held in the basement of Warren Hall along with art history courses which is the student center. Holmes Hall, where classes are currently being taught in one room, and the addition of a sculpture studio and printmaking studio which are located in basement of Galloway. Between 1964, when Dorothy enrolled at Tougaloo until the time Felicia enrolled in 1988, Professor Schnell was the chair of the art department and the addition of two professors, one in mid 70s and participant Johnnie Mae Maberry in the fall of 1989.
Dorothy Vaughn, spoke very passionately on her experience at Tougaloo College prepared her for graduate school and career, expressing how it gave her good academic foundation “Tougaloo College prepared me very well for my profession and for graduate school… I feel that Tougaloo College gave me a very good foundation, academic foundation.” (1/Lines 34-36). She would continue to discuss because of her foundation at
Tougaloo she was able to go right into the field of education, “See once I left Tougaloo I was specifically in my major area of concentration and I believe Tougaloo gave me a very good foundation and like right now I have no problems with writing and communicating … Tougaloo gave me a very good foundation that enabled me to obtain the degrees that I did receive later on and it helped prepare me for a career in art and other related areas” (1/Line 38-42). She also would share that Tougaloo College is where she took her first art course, and through that experience as well is why she feels so strongly about the foundation she received from the college. “I have been drawing since I was 3 years old, however I never had art in the public school system. The first
73 time I took art courses was at Tougaloo College… so I was glad I was able to become an art major at Tougaloo College” (2/Lines 47-49).
Dorothy’s studies at Tougaloo are distinguished in several ways. She was one of the first graduates to receive a degree in art as well experience student teaching in art at one of the local African American high schools in Jackson, MS in the spring 1968 or fall of 1969. “I was one of the first art majors to graduate from Tougaloo College… I did do student teaching. As a matter fact, I was the first student to do student teaching at a high school in Jackson” (2/ Lines 50, 65-70). She wasn’t specific about the year, but she completed her student teacher before graduating in 1969. “Let’s see, what year was that?
That… ‘cause I graduated from Tougaloo in 1969…it must have been around ’68 or ’69”
(2/76, 81). Even though at the time, art education was not offered as a major. Participants
Dorothy Vaughn and Johnnie Mae Maberry both completed student teaching in art, at local segregated high schools in Jackson, MS as part of their course of study through education courses offered at Tougaloo College.
Participant Johnnie Mae would have similar feelings for Tougaloo but also expressed conflict based on the foundation she received as an art student. Even though another local HBCU offered art education, her heart was set on Tougaloo, “Tougaloo offered art courses but they did not offer a degree in art.” (1/ Line 39). We then discussed the art courses and professors. She would state Professor Schnell as the teacher of several, if not all the art courses, stating simply “All of ‘em” (1/Line 41). She would later become more detailed about the courses and professors. “He [referring to Professor
Schnell] taught Art History, Art Appreciation, Art Education, Painting and Drawing. He even taught Sculpture (2/Lines 55-56), referring to Professor Schnell as a one man show,
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“He was a one-man show (nodding her head).” (2/Line 58). Dorothy and Johnnie Mae would experience two other professors within the art department. Dorothy would state,
“Yea there were other art professors there…I just can’t remember their names… but he taught me some studio courses, and I also had an art history teacher, but I cannot remember their names, it’s been awhile” (6/240-241). Johnnie Mae would recall, names and expressed how it took two professors to do the job of one. “Okay, now when he [referring to Ronald Schnell] went off on sabbatical. They brought in two people to replace him… before they brought these two in to replace him, he was the only instructor in the program” (Interview 2, 2/Lines 43-45). Dorothy would also recall experiences beyond the classroom, “Tougaloo had various experiences. Like we took trips to New Orleans to visit art museums and galleries, and also we would see the artists drawing and painting along the streets, so we were involved in taking trips to museums and galleries that inspired me also” (5/ Lines 194-199).
Although Johnnie Mae and Dorothy would share some of the same experiences, they sometimes varied in their perception. Unlike Dorothy Vaughn, Johnnie Mae had mixed feelings about the foundation she received as a student at Tougaloo College, “I appreciated all that I received by way of instructions, I also realized how much I did not get that [instruction] was fundamental to creating art. I knew that I could create art, but there were many unanswered questions about how the process comes about. I essentially re-educated myself pertaining to visual elements and design principles” (Interview 1,
3/73-76).
I asked her to elaborate more on this particular experience in a second interview and she recalls a certain experience when enrolled in the art education course, “There
75 wasn’t a whole lot of umm [practical guidance]…there wasn’t a whole…definitely not discipline based art education. It was more about going into the room and doing, even when he [Ronald Schnell] taught Art Education. He gave us a bunch of projects to do.
Hardly any lecturing, in fact, I decided to just collect the projects he assigned us to do. I didn’t even go to class (shaking her head as if she remembered that feeling of being slightly annoyed with the situation). At the end of the semester, I gave him all the projects he asked for and I go an A! I never went to class (in a disappointed tone)”
(Interview 2, 2/ Lines 79-85). She would continue stating “It was more about making art and expressing yourself in the art.” (Interview 2, 3/87-88). Although she would have mixed feelings about her foundational learning as it applies to visual vocabulary, she also stated how this method of teaching gave the students confidence, “It just gave us the confidence in knowing that we could create art (looking up thinking)… now what he did in the painting classes, he talked about the movement, the Civil Rights Movement, and how important it was to allow ourselves to release who we are in our artwork!”
(Interview 2, 3/91-94).
Participant Felicia Wolfe, would have the unique experience of being taught by
Professor Schnell as well as Johnnie Mae Maberry. As student enrolling in the late 80s, I was interested in knowing how the courses and professor changed. I asked Felicia who were her professors, “O’Hara and Johnnie, and ah I took four years of Art History under
Schnell” (3/Line 109), she would continue to go into more detail about the courses she took from Professor Schnell, and at the time, the newest assistant professor, Johnnie Mae
Maberry, “I think I did oil painting under him [referring to Professor Schnell]. Yea I did oil painting under him.” (3/Line 115). Felicia would go on to list other courses she took
76 as an art major, “I took Art for Children, I took Painting I, II, Graphics, Drawing I and II,
I took Three-Dimensional, Printmaking… I took everything. I mean because I finished so early, like I finished with all course study in art really early, so I had an opportunity to take stuff that I really didn’t have to have, so I just took everything” (3/ Lines 103-107).
Felicia would experience something similar to Johnnie Mae, as far as instructional frustration, “And see with Schnell I was very frustrated in oil painting, because you didn’t get the instruction you need. That’s why I hate oil painting to this day (voice elevates) because you had to rely on your drawing skills because you didn’t do oil painting in anything other than realism, of course” (12/Lines 470-473). As she continues, she also discusses a different experience through participant Johnnie Mae, “I think I learned, I got most of my painting experience when I took acrylic under Johnnie Maberry
(emphasis on the last name because at the time her last name was Gilbert)…and then just from doing my own,” (12/Lines 480-482, 484).
Lakeitha Bassett, would also share her experience under the instruction of Johnnie
Mae, She shared her experience upon meeting her as well as a art student, which would redirect her educational path while at Tougaloo “Sophomore year I started taking an art class, and that’s what led me into meeting Ms. Gilbert [Johnnie Mae Maberry].” (2/50,
58). She continued “I met a student (name removed from) at the time and he was taking an art class and he was like um and I was looking at his artwork and then I was kinda like
‘I know I was definitely education, this is pretty much where I wanted to go’ and then I talked to Ms. Gilbert and then I was more intrigued with her and what she was saying about the arts” (2/Lines 59-63). From that point, Lakeitha would change her major from
Education to Art with an emphasis in art education.
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The experience I had during my tenure at Tougaloo would be slightly different, because Assistant Professor Johnnie Mae Gilbert [Maberry] was not only my professor, but my mother. My coursework was very similar to Felicia’s, but I also had the opportunity to take photography, which I immediately feel in love with. Photography was taught under a different professor. At the time I attended Tougaloo as well as with participant Lakeitha Bassett, there were only two professors in the department, and as an art major there was a zero chance that I wouldn’t have her (my mother) as my instructor.
Learning fundamental skills vocabulary and research was constantly enforced in my studio classes under Johnnie Mae as well as the non-studio classes such as art appreciation, African American Art History. I do not recall receiving the same instruction in my painting, sculpture, two-dimensional design and other art history courses, however
I do remember finding myself as an artist through the photography class, as well as my love for pattern and design through the two-dimensional design course. The skills were being taught but it was more about the creating process.
Instructional Influences
As students participants’ discussed different types of influences, with in the classroom and beyond. Dorothy Vaughn shares a particular influence “I always had a strong interest in art and enjoyed being around artists, and as a matter of fact your mother is an artist so she was great inspiration to me… you know having fellow colleagues too also influenced me” (5/Lines 191-194). Beyond being inspired by fellow peers and colleagues, the instructional influences would stand out as an important finding. There are two generations of instructional influences participants experienced. Felicia, Lakeitha and I would all reflect on the lasting influence received from Assistant Professor Johnnie
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Mae Maberry, whereas Dorothy and Johnnie Mae would describe lasting influences from
Professor Ronald Schnell. For the purpose of these findings I have separated them based on the instructor of influence.
Professor Johnnie Mae Maberry Influence
I can honestly say that how I approach teaching and expectations of my students is a direct influence of my mother, even the style in which I paint and the process of painting, I briefly discuss my style of painting and approach to research in an interview conduct by a university professor. “I think I’m automatically I’m just influenced by her.
Her style, her approach of use of color. I’m very vibrant. I love color, and I know that I get that from my mom, I think that her process of how she does things…the whole reading and reaching and coming up with these themes and series…that’s something that that I definitely look to.” (15/Lines 505-508).
Felicia would also mention her beginning knowledge and skill of acrylic painting was influenced by participant Johnnie Mae Maberry. “I got most of my painting experience when I took acrylic under Johnnie Maberry” (12/Lines 480-482). Lakeitha also spoke of the influence participant Johnnie Mae would have on them. She would also play a role in influencing Felicia to go into the field of art education. During our interview, she spoke of her transitioning into art education. “I fought it for a long time.
And your mother, as a matter of fact told me “I don’t even know why fighting it because you know it’s your calling” (4/Lines 137-139). This statement caused Felicia to think and reflect, stating, “honestly when I started having those, some feelings about my job, I thought ‘you know let me see what this teaching thing is going to be about’” (4/Lines
140-142). Lakeitha would also share how she was influenced.
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Lakeitha Bassett began as a political science major, then education and then finding her rightful place in art as an art major with an emphasis in art education. I shared the findings of her first encounter with Johnnie Mae, but as I continued to read over the transcriptions, Lakeitha shared how she was influenced by her style, teaching and personality.
As stated in previous findings, Lakeitha shared how meeting Johnnie Mae led her into art education, “You know meeting Ms. Gilbert, getting into Art Education, you know kinda led me to where I am now” (3/ Lines 68-69). I then wanted to know what Johnnie
Mae did or said that influenced her so much. Lakeitha would begin to elaborate, “It started with me having a class with her…and then I was like oh I like this lady she’s like
[slight pause] so, you know Afrocentric…you know she’s art and you know like I never seen anyone like her in Natchez, you know “(3/ Lines 82-84), she would continue by stating “the way she spoke about art and then she was like very you know liberal and free” (3/Lines 86-87).
Like Felicia, participant Johnnie Mae Maberry would speak to Lakeitha about her talents and influenced her to consider art with an emphasis in art education. “It was just refreshing to hear…you know…I can’t remember, but I know she did tell me…you know…my skills…my creativeness…you know that I have a talent…I remember her telling me about my talent and you know and that I should you know think about art…because at that time I was telling her that I really didn’t know what I was doing as far as do I want to teach art…so I majored in Art and then I started taking Education courses and then by that time my sophomore junior year is when I decided to go full into
Art Education…(3-4/Lines 89-96).
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Lakeitha also spoke of being influenced by the study of African American art, “I’m influenced by African American artists…that’s who I… I’ve always…uh admire… who I aspire to be like…and so… when I was in high school…I wasn’t taught about African
American artists… until I came to Tougaloo. Participant Johnnie Mae would be the instructor of record teaching African American art at the time, a course that was written in the catalog but wasn’t taught until her arrival in 1989.
Analyzing data of her previous students, and finding common threads of how
Felicia, Lakeitha, and myself were influenced by the teaching, style and Professor
Johnnie Mae, I wanted to look further into what would be revealed about participants
Johnnie Mae and Dorothy influences.
Professor Schnell’s Influence
At the time Dorothy and Johnnie Mae enrolled at Tougaloo College, as mentioned before, Professor Schnell was the only professor with the exception of two professors added to the teaching faculty during Professor Schnell sabbatical, therefore without question he would have an impact on his students. Dorothy Vaughn would state on more than one occasion how he influenced her. “Ronald Schnell was my greatest influence… he was a great influence in my life and also he was an inspiration for me, um, for me choosing art as a major” (3/Lines 90, 110-111). She recalled his teaching methods, that influenced his students, “Ronald Schnell, as I stated, he was speaking a language sometimes, that wasn’t so pleasing sometimes, I won’t say what he said, but that was his way of pushing students to do their very best” (3/ Lines 115-117).
She would continue stating “he was one of the key people that recommended me for graduate school. He was very talented instructor” (3/Lines 127-128).
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Johnnie Mae would also speak of the lasting influence of Professor Schnell through her artworks “He used rapid brush strokes and pencil marks as he ferociously addressed his canvases and papers. I tended to imitate his techniques and style to a certain degree. I liked the expressive application and manipulation of the media” (Interview 1,
2/Lines 52-55). She would also be influenced through his mentorship, self-expression and exposure to actual works of art, “being introduced to my Art mentor; seeing my first original art works; getting my first real training in drawing and painting; being able to express myself as an African American artist” (Interview 1, 1/Lines 40-43).
Transfer of Knowledge
Not only was I interested in their experiences and influences, but I also wanted to inquire how these things transcended into their own teaching methods. In this final section of findings, I discuss the transfer of knowledge and experiences into the participants’ own teaching practices.
Impact of teacher influence in personal teaching methods
Felicia expressed how she relied on her content knowledge through four years of art history, “I use a lot of my background information, you know the art history part of it, the aesthetics part of it to kind of get conversation, they’re not just cutting and pasting, and gluing and coloring, and so I used a discipline based art education and so I used that with all (emphasis on all) of, everything I did had to be connected to something else
(4/Lines 164-168). She adds that much of her content knowledge from discipline based art education was directly from participant Johnnie Mae Maberry, “I know I got that from being, coming to a black school. Um, being taught by professors that look like me, accept for Schnell…Well, no. I won’t say that, just from Johnnie Maberry. Just her.
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Because O’Hara wasn’t doing that, Schnell wasn’t doing that, it was just her” (13/Lines
536-537, 539-540)
Dorothy uses a method of encouraging her students through her teaching, such as
Professor Schnell exhibited with her, but in a different format, teaching her students to take pride in who they are and what they can accomplish beginning each class with a pep talk, “I teach them, and I start off by telling them I’m going to respect you (emphasis on the word you) and I want you to respect me (emphasis on the work me), and I end up telling them, and I have them say it all together, I AM SOMEBODY, and I have them do it in unison before I quit the pep talk … I AM SOMEBODY, I AM SOMEBODY, and they all say it, I WILL WORK HARD, I WILL WORK HARD, I WILL STUDY
HARD…and this is the type of thing that I do” (9/Lines 348-353).
I found this important as a transfer of knowledge, because Dorothy spoke how
Professor Schnell encouraged her and gave her determination, “Well, one thing that has stuck with me is determination. Don’t give up no matter what, ‘cause there has been discouragement in my life but I wanted the degree and but I was determined to get the degree” (7/Lines 265-267).
Diversity in Teaching
Geneva Gay (2010) defines culturally responsive teaching as “using the cultural knowledge, prior experiences, frames of reference, and performance styles of ethnically diverse students to make learning encounters more relevant to and effective for them” (p. 31), which means teaching diverse students through their own cultural filters (Gay, 2013). Through analysis of data, I found the participants
83 would directly and indirectly refer to diversity in their teaching through their foundation teaching training at Tougaloo College.
Lakeitha would state something similar, pertaining to her being exposed to
African American art as a student at Tougaloo College, she is conscious of including
African American artists in her coursework, stating “it wasn’t until Tougaloo when I learned about the African American artists, and I do that to my students now. Even though we talk about the Van Goghs…you still have to balance it out…you can’t always be black (laughing)” (8-9/Lines 242-247).
The exposure to African American artists and their history would be a direct influence from Johnnie Mae, who also discusses how she incorporates African American artists in her teaching, “I think is extremely important! That they see an African
American artist involved in art education and promoting art education and giving them that connect between African American art and society, and art styles and it very important for them to make that connection through their professor and through the work they are given and encouraged to do the research, and I think that at Tougaloo, well I know that I do, I encourage them to research, I encourage them to find out who the
African American artists are and see what is it about their styles that inspires them to be more creative and inspire them to go further, and also for them to understand it is not about becoming that artist that behind the easel but continue the legacy of the African
American artists in the field (6/ Lines 214-223).
Like Johnnie Mae, I also take the rich history of African American artists into the classroom. I was surrounded by African American artists being a student at Tougaloo
College and I know the importance of having a diversity within the curriculum. I would
84 state something similar in my interview when asked about curriculum, “I’m always trying to incorporate more African American artists within the curriculum” (12/Line 405). I continue stating “They have to understand that there are important artists that look like you that have done exceptional things… Just infuse it into your curriculum because I notice that when students see someone that looks like them that’s creating artwork, they get more interested in it” (14/ Lines 455-456, 458-460).
Diversity in teaching is not only incorporating cultures into the classroom, but also encouraging personal cultures and self-reflection within the work. Professor Schnell would use this method of teaching with his students, and participant Johnnie Mae would reflect on this as well as express how she uses this in the same method within her teaching. She recalls a moment in painting class as he encouraged the students to express their voice, “now what he did in the painting classes, he talked about the movement, the
Civil Rights Movement, and how important it was to allow ourselves to release who we are in our artwork” (Interview 2-3/Lines 92-94). This would be a lasting influence that is present in her teaching today. This particular style of teaching, encouraging diversity through expressing telling their own stories is a method I also use in my teaching methods. I reflected on a particular assignment with photography students, “I had them pick a theme. They had to deal with issues that maybe teenagers might face, cultural issues. I had them look up stereotypes because they don’t know what anything means. So,
I had them be little detectives…those became very powerful. I had one girl writing through her series on eating disorders. Her art statement was why this is important and about a friend of hers… And these are things you don’t know, and you have to have them write so their work becomes more meaningful to them” (9/Lines 275-277, 280-283)
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Diversity in teaching also comes from ownership of oneself. Lakeitha also shared a key influence that she brings into her teaching is be authentic, “Just being my true self…um…never…uh put on a show for anyone else…just being your true authentic self…don’t put on…you know a show for anyone else…for someone…that’s basically it.
I tell my kids all the time…’you know I’m from Mississippi…’(laughing)” (11/Lines
304-306).
Dorothy stated how Professor Schnell had an understanding of his students because of his own ethnicity, “He was German, so the fact that he was foreign…um, that enabled me to understand his temperament also” (3-4/Lines 128, 132). Possibly meaning they were able to understand each other’s concepts of doing things because of their cultural backgrounds. Thinking of her statement, it also connected to how she teaches.
Dorothy would state she is diverse in her teaching, “I have found that I have to be very diverse in my teaching. I have to change from day to day. I cannot constantly do the same thing every day” (7/289-290).
Be it through high expectations of students, a sense of ownership and belonging, approaches to teaching content through discipline based art education (DBAE) as well as culturally, or diversifying teaching strategies, these are just a few ways in which the participants’ transferred the knowledge received as art students at Tougaloo College into their own teaching methods. The influences rooted from teaching practices to informal practices which transcended on personal levels enriching academic and pedagogical practices.
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Summary
This chapter consists of the findings developed through careful analysis of participants’ interview data. Through analysis determined three themes through low- level coding; choosing a historically black college, experiences and perceptions, and transfer of knowledge into present teacher practices. Each theme would expand into high- level coding, for richer analysis of the data. Table 2 below outlines the data by themes and categories of that were reflected in this chapter.
Table 2. Findings: Themes and Categories
• Legacy • High Academic Standards Choosing Tougaloo College • Segregation in the South and Fairness during the Civil Rights Movement
• Coursework and Professors Experiences and Perceptions • Personal View • Influences
• Impact of teacher influence in personal Transfer of Knowledge teaching method • Diversity in Teaching
The next chapter is the conclusion of the study discussing the findings as well as future research.
Chapter V
Conclusion
The simultaneous inception of Fine Arts departments and teacher preparation
programs within historically black colleges suffers invisibility in the history of art
education narratives, particularly if one considers that by in large early 20th
century accredited African American art teachers were likely to have matriculated
at one of these institutions (Ambush, The Penn State Seminar in Art Education,
April 3, 2016).
The purpose of this study was to explore the phenomena of African American female artist/educators who received their teacher training from a historically black college in early twentieth century America. The goal was to examine experiences they encountered and what influenced them as artist/educators.
Summary of Study
In order to create a bridge of understanding beyond the research for consideration of how we move forward in art education research and policy, I decided to take an art education historical research approach to the literature review. As stated in the purpose of the study, there were limited resources pertaining to African American female artist/educators as well as the historically black colleges and their art programs directly.
The literature review was presented in three sections 1) identity of African
American artist 2) socio-cultural influences, and 3) the art teacher training of African
American artist/educators. Through each theme, I summarized the identity of African
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American artists panning from slavery and the loss of identity, to cultural influences and the reclaiming of African American identity to the teacher training through community based learner centers and ultimately concluding the review with the building of historically black colleges art programs and the African American women who were apart of educating future artist/educators.
Case study was as the qualitative methodology used for the research. A case study is best defined by Paul D. Leedy and Jeanne Ellis Ormrond (2016), as in-depth data collection is relative to a single individual, program, or event for the purpose of learning more about an unknown or poorly understood situation. This study used a small sample size of five African American female artist/educators stemmed from the same undergraduate background at Tougaloo College, a HBCU. Using Phil Carspecken’s interview protocol method, I developed a protocol which consisted of three domains 1)
Making the choice to attend a historically black college 2) the art program and art educational leadership influences and 3) the role of an African American female artist/educator. These domains allowed the participants to speak openly about their experiences as an art student at a HBCU and how they were influenced as artist/educators.
Summary of Findings
This research has produced the following findings:
1. Participants’ described personal reason why they chose to attend a historically
black college, more specifically, Tougaloo College. The respondents shared in
that Tougaloo had linage connections for some, others shared the reputation of
Tougaloo being a state of the art institution for African Americans. Johnnie Mae
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Maberry indicated that when she was in high school, the student teachers were so
impressive, that she had a burning desire to attend the same school that these
model students attended. That institution was Tougaloo College. It was that
decision that led to three of her four children to attend and graduate the same
institution. A common factor from all respondents was the transfer of knowledge,
each participant revealed their memory of the technique of instructions they
received at Tougaloo. A sense of family, small and quaint yet stern and very
sophisticated. All of the participants indicated how they used what taught at
Tougaloo as their foundation for how they currently instruct. Felicia Wolfe
revealed after years of working within the fine arts that her she her calling was to
teach art, until a conversation she had with Professor Maberry. Lakeitha
mentioned the consistent motivation to be her best and encouragement to try new
things while at Tougaloo. She currently pushes her students in positive directions
just as she was motivated while at Tougaloo. These are two examples, of how
studying at Tougaloo College influenced the teaching styles of the female African
American artists interviewed for this research. These finding proved relevant to
the study. The participants would later discuss their Tougaloo experience. The
commonality of themes in their justification for choosing Tougaloo Fine Art and
Art Education programs suggest that early African American art educators were
reliant on matriculating in safe havens from potential inequities in receiving
quality programming for higher education degrees in order to maximize their
learning experience. In addition, such HBCUs carried generational significance
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for communities of color in ensuring curriculum that aligned with familial values
and advanced a vision for achieving equality.
2. Participants’ shared similar experiences, and through those shared experienced
some perceived these experiences as a positive foundation of teaching. The same
experience was used as a catalyst to bring forth more knowledge into the art
program in the future. Professor Maberry was specific in her intention to learn
more and share what she learned with students at Tougaloo College. The
importance of art terminology and the push to have African American Art History
as a required course for art majors, are just two of her many accomplishments she
contributed to the current art program at Tougaloo College. She desires to carry
out the vision of her mentor Professor Ronald Schnell. She also spoke about how
she sets the tone of her classroom and creates a learning experience for her
students, encouraging them to think outside the box. She compares their work to
the great artists that paved the way for them and she teaches her students the
appreciation of art and how that appreciation can translate into employment. She
as well as all of the artists interviewed attempt to dismantle the “starving artists”
myth, but translate the potential of art professionals and the ability to prosper in
this field, not only in monetary gain, but knowledge base wealth.
3. Participants shared lasting influences from one particular professor during their
time of enrollment. These influences would guide them in structure, skill and
teaching. They highlight the role of the immigrant experience on empathetic
understandings that helped in some way to shape marked differences in art
education curriculum delivery to communities of color. Like Victor Lowenfeld
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and Ronald Schnell negotiated two worlds that may have at different times
underscored and resisted belief systems regarding the capacity of people of color
to be participants in the art-world and further guide art education programs.
4. Participants were able to transfer some of their influences and experiences into
how they teach through content knowledge and student expectation. They, also,
would improve on teaching of things they may have missed as a student or not
received at all.
“There is a need to research, teach and publish these histories to provide a more
inclusive and equitable picture of American art education and to encourage more
people of color to consider careers in the field” (Lawton, 2017, p.100).
African American female artist/educators, such as Augusta Savage, Lois Mailou
Jones, Laura Waring Wheeler, Alma Thomas and Elizabeth Catlett, are names
recognized for their accomplishment in the world of art. We know little about their
dual roles as fine art and art education instructors deliberately changing the landscape
of art education. This study, although small, is an extension of their legacy, not only
as African American artist/educators, but in most cases were students and/or
instructors at historically black colleges, instructing some of the most noteworthy
African American artists in art education.
Even more so adding Johnnie Mae Maberry and Dorothy Vaughn, who both are
upholding a long-standing legacy of African American female artist/educators at
historically black colleges, early excursions to an Art Museum was a shepherded
enterprise for those living under segregation. Consider that world-renown art
historian Samella Lewis was taken to her first art museum field trip by Elizabeth
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Catlett while studying at Dillard University. Lewis recalling that only when a bus
transported the students who had not been allowed to walk across the park adjoining
the museum, were she and other children of color allowed to enter the museum.
Given such moments, the importance of the role of early art educators who
simultaneously excelled in their art production cannot be underestimated.
Johnnie Mae Maberry and Dorothy Vaughn, who both, are upholding a long-
standing legacy of African American female artist/educators at historically black
colleges, and as Lawton stated, “encouraging future artist/educators of color.” These
artists have contributed greatly to the field of art education. They have taken their
talents and infused them into curriculum to help their students grow and become
knowledgeable in the field of art. Considering the era, both Ms. Maberry and Ms.
Vaughn matriculated, being African American female artists during the height of the
Civil Rights Movement, proved difficult. Their talents were only welcomed in a small
area in Jackson, MS and was not encouraged to expand into the broader borders of the
Jim Crow south. Their desire to teach could, arguably, happened by chance. This is
presumed since during this time Art Education was not offered as a program of study.
Both participants, shared their obstacles in gaining employment and their inevitable
path into professorship. Although this path proved to be cumbersome, they prevailed.
Their tireless struggle, produced butting artists in the field of Art Education. This is
evident through the testimonies of the younger participants interviewed. They were
consistent in attributing their knowledge and craft of teaching art through the tutelage
of Professor Maberry. Ms. Vaughn shares her knowledge and expertise to an audience
93
during the annual Tougaloo Art Colony. Both professors remember the influence of
Ronald Schnell, and their drive to live out his vision for minorities in Art.
Professor Schnell’s story is quite poetic in that he fled from social injustices and
the inhumane policies of Nazi Germany to America. Here, he made his life’s work in
the arena of art and spreading the message of beauty and togetherness through
teaching art to his pupils, all of African descent. This message resonated with his
students; Dorothy Vaughn and Johnnie Maberry and transcended to their students;
Felicia Wolfe, Lakeitha Bassett, Lynnette Gilbert; and presently to their students. The
foundation was laid for these female artists who later became art educators. Their
beginnings at Tougaloo College segway into art curriculums throughout from their
students who implement art form, style, and technique in their classrooms, principles
learned from Professors Maberry and Vaughn.
Dr. Donald Davis, Jr. (1983) shares contributions of African Americans in art
education from historically black colleges, which are quite familiar to influences
revealed by participants in this study. Art Educators such as Gregory Ridley, Jr.
(1925-2004) influenced under the guidance of Aaron Douglas (1899-1979) at Fisk
University, Nashville, TN. Dr. Eugene Grigsby, Jr. (1918-2013), studied under Hale
Woodruff (1900-1980) at Morehouse College, Atlanta, Georgia, in 1938. Dr. Grigsby
stated, “ Woodruff was the kind of teacher who instilled confidence in students…I
consider any contribution that I may have been able to make can be traced to the
influence of Hale Woodruff ” (Davis, 1983, p. 158-159), and John Biggers (1924-
2001), while a student at Hampton University, Hampton, Virginia, in the early 1940s,
was not only influenced by Viktor Lowenfeld, but also renowned African American
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artists Charles W. White (1918-1979) and Elizabeth Catlett (1915-2012) (Davis,
1983).
Future Research
The limitations that exist in this research reveal the need to expand into a broader study to understand the importance of making art education more diverse in its curriculum, instructors, and lesson planning. Although only one HBCU was studied, other HBCU art programs exists and would be worth further exploration into establishing a stronger argument.
This study revealed three possible avenues for future research regarding the under representation of African American female artists in education and the lack of diversity in curriculum implementation. First, we must consider African American female artist/educators in the history of art education; who are they, what did they teach, how did they impact art education, and who influenced them as young scholars? Sharif Bey
(2017) addressed this concerning African-American artist/educator Augusta Savage, stating “Studies focusing on the impact of African American female artists in this era
[The New Negro Movement] are even more sparser, increasing the urgency to spotlight
Savage’s impact” (p.127).
Historically Black Colleges and Universities played a significant role in the development of art education. Extracting from the interviews, all participants revealed the impact of their experience at a HBCU and how those experiences influenced their ability to educate aspiring student artists. The intimate classroom settings, the ability to study
African and African American artists and their works, to apply similar techniques such as the print making style of Elizabeth Catlett, or collage techniques of Romare Bearden into
95 their own pieces. The opportunity to learn about successful African American artists came during these courses at Tougaloo. The implementation of African American artists’ form and style was taught beneath the hanging moss on the campus. Expanding research regarding the importance of implementing a more diverse curriculum and impact on minority students is needed in order to improve current art education studying paths.
Secondly, we must consider the histories of historically black colleges and universities and the impactful roles played establishing art departments, art collections, teacher training and artistic training of African American artist/educators. Furthermore, the narratives of artist/educators that were influenced through these programs. More research is needed in this space to explore the histories of local and renown artists. This will not only help market HBCUs but could open opportunities for more students interested in art as a profession to explore the option of making art their primary discipline through undergraduate and beyond.
Lastly, we must also consider the untold stories of African American artist/educators in the field of art education today. Investigating the percentage of
African American artist/educators in k-12 as well as in higher education. The demand for art is increasing, currently STEM (science, technology, engineering, and math) has been re-engineered into STEAM where “Art” is being incorporated in this growing field. As this discipline expands, it is critical to implement diversity in teaching. There is no singular mechanism in any curriculum. It is critical that the art student or the aspiring art teacher expand beyond the standard curriculum and explore artistic styles and meaning from a more diverse platform. Moving into a multicultural approach to teaching art.
Minority students are flocking into art programs, teaching the styles and theory of
96 professionals that share in their cultural identities evoke a sense of pride and relatable.
Just as matriculating through Tougaloo made minority students feel a sense of belonging and significant, so does this thought when teaching minority students about African
American, Hispanic, Palestinian artists will garner the same emotions and drive as it ignited to Tougaloo students. Art has several faces, why not show them? Once more research is done in this space, the demand for more female minority art instructors should grow and eventually more minority female representation will become more evident.
It is anticipated that these practices shared by participants can translate into curriculum. Just as this research focused on the story behind minority female artists, a similar activity can be crafted for K-12 art curriculums. Implementing diversity in study can translate to art activities and projects that will accommodate any student matriculating through primary and secondary education. Theoretically, the arts are inherently part of culture, and curriculums that teach through and about the arts would be a place where culturally responsive teaching could flourish (Moore, 2016). Once educators begin changing the direction from traditional basic art class to an innovative cultural oasis, students will respond even better to their potential as artists and/or art teachers.
97
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Appendix
Appendix A: IRB Approval Letter
APPROVAL OF SUBMISSION
February 13, 2017
Lynnette Gilbert
Dear Lynnette Gilbert:
On 2/13/2017, the IRB reviewed the following submission:
Type of Review: Initial Study Title of Study: Tougaloo Eagle Queens: Palettes to Pedagogy A Case Study of African American Female Artist/Educators' Teacher Training and Pedagogical Practices from a Historically Black College Investigator: Lynnette Gilbert IRB ID: 4709 Funding/ Proposed Name: University of Houston Funding: Award ID: Award Title: IND, IDE, or HDE: None Documents Reviewed: • HRP-503 Protocol LG.docx, Category: IRB Protocol; • CONSENT DOCUMENT- LG.pdf, Category: Consent Form; • Letter of Authorization for Recruitment .pdf, Category: Recruitment Materials; • AAFArtEdRecruitment Flyer.pdf, Category: Recruitment Materials; • Interview Protocol (Palettes to Pedagogy).pdf, Category: Study tools (ex: surveys, interview/focus group questions, data collection forms, etc.); • Participant Questionnaire.pdf, Category: Study tools (ex: surveys, interview/focus group questions, data collection forms, etc.);
Review Category: Expedited Committee Name: Not Applicable IRB Coordinator: Danielle Griffin
Page 1 of 2
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The IRB approved the study from 2/13/2017 to 2/12/2018 inclusive. Before 2/12/2018 or within 30 days of study closure, whichever is earlier, you are to submit a continuing review with required explanations. You can submit a continuing review by navigating to the active study and clicking Create Modification / CR.
If continuing review approval is not granted on or before 2/12/2018, approval of this study expires after that date. To document consent, use the consent documents that were approved and stamped by the IRB. Go to the Documents tab to download them.
In conducting this study, you are required to follow the requirements listed in the Investigator Manual (HRP-103), which can be found by navigating to the IRB Library within the IRB system.
Sincerely,
Office of Research Policies, Compliance and Committees (ORPCC) University of Houston, Division of Research 713 743 9204 [email protected] http://www.uh.edu/research/compliance/irb-cphs/
Page 2 of 2
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Appendix B: Tougaloo College Letter of Authorization for Research
ART DEPARTMENT 500 WEST COUNTY LINE RD TOUGALOO, MS 39174 601-977-7743/601-977-7700
TO: LYNNETTE M GILBERT, DOCTORAL CANDIDATE UNIVERSITY OF HOUSTON
FROM: JOHNNNIE M.MABERRY, ASSOCIATE PROFESSOR OF ART/ADVISOR
RE: CONTACT INFORMATION FOR RESEARCH SUBJECTS
I have served as academic advisor of Tougaloo College Art Majors since 1989. Additionally, I was Art Department Chair from 1995 -2010. Although my current position is Curator of the Tougaloo Art Collection, I maintain faculty status with tenure and serve as advisor to Art Majors. I am excited by our art graduate Lynnette Gilbert’s important research addressing the impact of African American female art educators teaching at historically black colleges and universities (HBCU). I have provided Miss Gilbert with a list of female Art Educators from Tougaloo who may be beneficial to her research. I have also contacted those individuals explaining the nature of s Gilbert’s research encouraging their participation. I provided contact information for Lakeitha Bassett, Felicia Reese, Serenthia Ross, and my fellow classmate Professor Dorothy Vaugh.
We, at Tougaloo proudly support this endeavor and will provide whatever assistance is need for Miss Gilbert’s research.
I have provided my contact information below: [email protected]/[email protected] Curator/Associate Professor of Art Director of Tougaloo Art Colony 601-977-7743 (office) 601-212-7978 (cell)
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Appendix C: Recruitment Flyer
African-American Female Artist/Educator Study University of Houston Department of Education
Be part of an important narrative case study regarding art teaching training and practices at Tougaloo College, a historically black college (HBCU).
• Are you a Tougaloo College Alumna? • Are you an African American female? • Are you an artist/educator? • Are you currently teaching or have taught art for 5 or more years?
If you answered YES to these questions, you may be eligible to participate in a narrative case study.
The purpose of this research is to understand the significance of art teacher training, influences and pedagogical practices received through attending an historically black college (HBCU) for African American females.
Participants will be asked to sit for two 45 to 60-minute interviews between March and April. Interviews will be conducted via Facetime, Skype, Google Hangouts, phone, or face- to-face.
If you have any questions or are interested in participating, please contact: Lynnette Gilbert, ABD Curriculum and Instruction in Art Education University of Houston [email protected] or [email protected]
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Appendix D: Consent Form
Title of research study: Beneath the Hanging Moss: The Journey of African American Female Artist/Educators at a Historically Black College Investigator: Lynnette Marshea Gilbert. This research is part of a dissertation being conducted under the supervision of Dr. Sheng Chung Why am I being invited to take part in a research study? We invite you to take part in a research study because of the following criteria: 1) African American Female Artist/Educator, 2) Graduate from Tougaloo College with an major or emphasis in art and/or art education 3) Graduated between 1969-2010 4) Currently in a role of art education or have held a role in art education for 5 or more years What should I know about a research study? • Someone will explain this research study to you. • Whether or not you take part is up to you. • You can choose not to take part. • You can agree to take part and later change your mind. • Your decision will not be held against you. • You can ask all the questions you want before you decide, and can ask questions at any time during the study. Why is this research being done? Inquiry into the histories of African American artists as art educators is not only an important topic but is rather is an imperative. This research will not only identify those who have paved a way for today’s African American art educators, but, in fact, understanding my own identity and impact in art education. In order to continue one of the crucial gaps in U.S. art education, the influence of post New Negro Movement artist/educators on African American art community and historically black colleges and universities (HBCU) should be studied and researched (Bey, 2007). How long will the research last? We expect that you will be in this research study for one visit in person or via Skype, Facetime and/or Google Hangout for approximately 45 minutes to an hour for one interview, with the possibility of a second interview, depending on if a follow up interview is needed for further data collection. The second visit, if needed, will be approximately 45 minutes to an hour.
How many people will be studied? We expect to enroll about 6 people in this research study.
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What happens if I say yes, I want to be in this research? Lynnette Marshea Gilbert will set up a day and time for an interview. The interview will be conducted either in person, Skype, Facetime or Google Hangout. The method of the interview will depend on what is best for the participant. There will be one interview conducted by Lynnette Gilbert lasting approximately 45 minutes to an hour. If there is a need for a follow up interview, you will be contacted to set up a second interview that is flexible with your schedule. The second interview, if needed, will be approximately 45 minutes to an hour. This research study includes the following component(s) where we plan to audio record you as the research subject: q I agree to be audio recorded during the research study. q I agree that the audio recording can be used in publication/presentations. q I do not agree that the auto recording can be used in publication/presentations.
q I do not agree to be auto recorded during the research study.
Audio recording provides a more accurate form of data collection, however, you can still participate in the study if you do not choose to be audio recorded. What happens if I do not want to be in this research? You can choose not to take part in the research and it will not be held against you. Choosing not to take part will involve no penalty or loss of benefit to which you are otherwise entitled. What happens if I say yes, but I change my mind later? You can leave the research at any time it will not be held against you. If you stop being in the research, already collected data may not be removed from the study record. Is there any way being in this study could be bad for me? There are no foreseeable risks related to the procedures conducted as part of this study. If you choose to take part and undergo a negative event you feel is related to the study, please inform your study team. Will I get anything for being in this study? There is no compensation or payment that the subject can expect to receive for their participation. Will being in this study help me in any way? There are no known benefits to you from your taking part in this research.
What happens to the information collected for the research? Efforts will be made to limit the use and disclosure of your personal information, including research study and medical records, to people who have a need to review this
109 information. Each subject’s name will be paired with a code number, which will appear on all written study materials. The list pairing the subject’s name to the assigned code number will be kept separate from these materials. We cannot promise complete secrecy. Organizations that may inspect and copy your information include the IRB and other representatives of this organization, as well as collaborating institutions and federal agencies that oversee human subjects research. We may publish the results of this research. However, unless otherwise detailed in this document, we will keep your name and other identifying information confidential.
Who can I talk to? If you have questions, concerns, or complaints, or think the research has hurt you, you should talk to the research team: Lynnette Gilbert, [email protected] , Dr. Sheng Chung, [email protected], Dr. Mimi Lee, [email protected], Dr. Carol Markello, [email protected], Dr. Debra Ambush, [email protected], or Dr. Kisha Bryan, [email protected] This research has been reviewed and approved by the University of Houston Institutional Review Board (IRB). You may also talk to them at (713) 743-9204 or [email protected] if: • Your questions, concerns, or complaints are not being answered by the research team. • You cannot reach the research team. • You want to talk to someone besides the research team. • You have questions about your rights as a research subject. • You want to get information or provide input about this research.
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Signature Block for Capable Adult
Your signature documents your consent to take part in this research.
Signature of subject Date
Printed name of subject
Signature of person obtaining consent Date
Printed name of person obtaining consent
In the future, our research team may be interested in contacting you for other research studies we undertake, or to conduct a follow-up study to this one. There is never any obligation to take part in additional research. Do we have permission to contact you to provide additional information?
q Yes q No
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Appendix E: Participant Questionnaire
Participant Questionnaire
This questionnaire is for the purpose of the dissertation research study for Lynnette M. Gilbert, ABD, University of Houston candidate for Doctorate degree in Curriculum and Instruction with an emphasis in Art Education.
This research is a case study of African American female artist/educators that received teaching/ and studio training through attending Tougaloo College, a historically black college, and has worked or currently working in the field of art education for 5 or more years.
1. Name:
2. Age:
3. Did you graduate from Tougaloo College?
4. What year?
5. Did you major in art, art education, or art with an emphasis in art education?
6. Are you currently teaching art? If yes, where and for how long?
7. If you are not currently teaching art, how long did you teach art and where?
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Appendix F: Interview Protocol
Beneath the Hanging Moss
Interview Protocol
Topic Domain I: Making the choice to attend a Historically Black College/University (HBCU)
Lead-off Question Why did you decide to attend an HBCU verses a non-Historically Black College or University?
Covert Categories • Why key factors played an important role in selecting the HBCU you attended? • What are some benefits for attending an HBCU and some challenges you may have faced?
Follow-up Questions • Why did you choose to attend Tougaloo College? • Did you attend the HBCU knowing you wanted to an art major? • Was art education apart of your curriculum directly or indirectly?
Topic Domain II: The Art Program and Art Educational Leadership Influences (Professors, students, the establishment of the program itself)
Lead-off Question To what extent did your professors impact your stylistic development?
Covert Categories • What do you remember about your art program? • What roles did the art program play in influencing you to become an art educator? • Do you feel if you had attended a non-HBCU would you have still gone into art education?
Follow-Up Questions • Who were your art professors? • Who established the art program? • In what ways did your professors and or attending an HBCU influence your career path of becoming an art educator? • What are some important lessons that stayed with you from your HBCU experience as an art major that you feel influences your own teaching?
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Topic Domain III: The Role of the Female African American Artist/ Educator
Lead-off Question How important is it for your students to see you as an African American female artist/art educator promoting the arts, creating works of art and making the connection between professor, student and the work that is assigned? What are some examples you can give me on how you are able to do this through your teaching?
Covert Category • How would you identify your roles as an art educator? • What comparisons can you make from you as an art student and Tougaloo College and present day art students? • What are some concerns that you see in art education as it pertains to African Americans, females and art education in general?
Follow-up Questions • How important is it for your students to see you as a professional artist? • What goals do you have for your art program/ curriculum? • What tools and resources do you incorporate in your teaching to ensure they have a foundation in art education through their studio and art history courses? • How have your experiences strengthened you as an art educator as well as an artist? • How important is it for you to share your experiences with your students, colleagues and fellow art educators?
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Appendix G: Proposal for a major in Art written by Professor Ronald Schnell.
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Appendix H: Letter to Professor Schnell from participant Dorothy Vaughn
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Appendix I: Letters to participants Dorothy Vaughn and Johnnie Mae Maberry from Professor Schnell
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Appendix J: Participant Lynnette Gilbert Transcript from Tougaloo College
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Endnotes i The Howard University Department of Art hosts an Annual Porter Colloquium in Honor of Art Historian James Porter who served as Department Chair. His seminal work in black art became the nucleus for the development of this department. April 10-11, 2015 the 26th Annual James A Porter Colloquium was held. The theme was Sheroes and Womanists: An Examination of Feminists Subjectivity in Modern and Contemporary African American Art. Art historians Leslie King Hammond and Lowery Stokes Sims spoke on the topic “Reflection and Revelation: Four Generations of African American Sculptors”