Today in Black History- February 2, 2010
<p> </p><p>Educator, writer, and painter who was the first African-American art historian. Born in 1905 in Baltimore, Md. Howard University (B.S., art, 1927); Columbia University; Art Students League in New York, where he studied with painter Dimitri Romanwosky. Art instructor and head of Howard University’s art department (1927-1970), where he was credited with establishing the art department gallery, and serving as a mentor to generations of African-American students; won the Arthur Schomburg Portrait Prize (1933), for his figure painting, Woman Holding a Jug; received a fellowship from the Institute of International Education to study medieval archeology at the Sorbonne in Paris (1935); painted a bust-length portrait of a Senegalese soldier called Colonial Soldier while in Paris (1937), which showed his familiarity with Fauvism and expressionism; exhibited his work at the American Negro Exposition (Chicago, 1940), and a one-man show at the Barnett-Aden Gallery in Washington, D.C. (1948). Published Modern Negro Art (1943), which was the earliest comprehensive treatment of African-American art and became a standard reference work for the field; wrote a historical monograph, a catalog- brochure, prize-winning book reviews, and illustrated books for others. Appointed a fellow of the Belgium-American Art Seminar (1955), where he pursued further studies in the history of Flemish and Dutch art of the 16th, 17th , and 18th centuries while in Belgium; conducted research for a book on West African architecture; honored by President Johnson on the 25th anniversary of the founding of the National Gallery of Art (1966), as “one of America’s most outstanding men of the arts.” Died on February 28, 1970, in Washington, D.C. Further reading, Negro History Bulletin (April 1970).On this day in history, February 2 …1847- Robert Morris Sr., was admitted to the Suffolk County, Mass., bar, becoming the first African-American lawyer in the U.S. 1924- “Sonny Stitt”, a leading jazz saxophonist of the 1940s and ‘50s, was born in Boston, Mass. (d. 1982).1938- Simon Lamont Estes, operatic baritone, was born in Centerville, Iowa.1989- Evelyn Fields, U.S. Navy lieutenant commander, became the first African-American woman to command a naval ship.</p>
