Black art has a rich, vibrant history. The first known African American artists were the slave artisans. These artisans had skills such as cabinetmakers, quilt makers, stoneware vessel makers, ironworkers and silversmiths. They were most often asked by their slave masters to create the aforementioned items for their households. However, they were occasionally allowed to create some of these items for use in their own homes. Also, some African American slave artisans would paint portraits of white families.

There were a few African American artists who became known for their portraiture in the late 1700s. These artists were free men such as Boston’s William Simpson, Philadelphia’s Henry Reason and Julien Hudson from New Orleans. These painters created portraits of prominent persons both black and white in these cities.

Unfortunately, in 19th century America, talented African American artists were not yet allowed to join art academies where they could receive special training to enhance their skills. Rarely, certain white families would provide information and resource to these budding artists to help them succeed.

After the end of the Civil War, black artists started to have an easier time gaining acceptance from the public. Some of the black artists who achieved success in the 1865-1920 period included Nelson Primus,. Grafton Tyler Brown and Edmonia Lewis. Around 1900, some art schools began to open their doors to African American students, paving the way to careers as working artists for many. However, the public at the time was more interested in European or European influenced art than the work of American artists, especially African American artists.

Many African American artists who had the means to do so went to Europe; in Paris, Rome, Copenhagen and other cities they found an audience who were interested in the art itself, not the color of the artist’s skin.

It was the 1920s when white Americans began to open their minds to the work of black artists. The 20s were the decade of the famed “Harlem Renaissance”. African American artists working in all disciplines found a larger audience for their work. Harlem was one of the centers of this black cultural movement with galleries and venues for performances and exhibitions by African American artists. It should be noted, however that many of the important artists of the day (and some of the venues) were located outside of the Manhattan neighborhood of Harlem, with Louis Armstrong and many other musicians residing in Forest Hills, Long Island City and other neighborhoods in Queens and some of the movement’s writers living in Bedford-Stuyvesant and other Brooklyn neighborhoods. All of New York City was a center of African American art and culture. Visual artists like Palmer Hayden, James van der Zee and Aaron Douglas, musicians including Louis Armstrong and Fletcher Henderson and writers including Langston Hughes and Nella Larsen were part of this movement and found their work reaching white audiences, often for the first time in their careers.

William E. Harmon, a real estate tycoon with a strong belief in social justice and a lifelong belief in the power of art to transform culture started the Harmon Foundation in 1926. The foundation and Harmon himself promoted the work of black artists and exposed their work to a much wider audience, something which did indeed play a role in transforming the broader culture, just as Harmon had envisioned.

African American artists are as important a part of American culture today as they have always been, with artists creating work in every conceivable medium. From ballet to literature, composition to sculpture, conceptual art to photography, African American artists are an inseparable part of the American way of life and American culture and have now taken their rightful place in the public consciousness as creators of our nation’s unique cultural heritage.

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