Virginia Commonwealth University VCU Scholars Compass Theses and Dissertations Graduate School 2014 Portraiture and Text in African-American Illustrated Biographical Dictionaries, 1876 to 1917 Dennis Williams II Follow this and additional works at: https://scholarscompass.vcu.edu/etd Part of the American Literature Commons, American Material Culture Commons, Book and Paper Commons, and the Interdisciplinary Arts and Media Commons © The Author Downloaded from https://scholarscompass.vcu.edu/etd/3666 This Thesis is brought to you for free and open access by the Graduate School at VCU Scholars Compass. It has been accepted for inclusion in Theses and Dissertations by an authorized administrator of VCU Scholars Compass. For more information, please contact
[email protected]. Portraiture and Text in African-American Illustrated Biographical Dictionaries, 1876 to 1917 A thesis submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts at Virginia Commonwealth University by Dennis Williams II, Bachelor of Arts, Virginia Commonwealth University, 2012 Director: Eric Garberson, Ph.D. Associate Professor, Department of Art History, and Director, Media, Art and Text Program Virginia Commonwealth University Richmond, Virginia December, 2014 ii Acknowledgements I am indebted to Dr. Eric Garberson for his perseverance, direction, patience, and breadth of knowledge and am grateful for the high expectations and standards to which he holds his students. I would like to thank Dr. Brian Daugherity and Dr. Babatunde Lawal for their assistance throughout this process and for their undergraduate courses which I took and which helped form the epistemological foundations for this thesis. I must also thank the following professors: Dr. Charles Brownell for setting me on the path which ultimately led to the study of portraiture, Dr.