This month, the Altadena Library District looks to honor and celebrate the work, accomplishments, and lives of just a few of the African Americans, both past and present, who are making or have made a significant impact on or contribution to Altadena and the local community.
Charles White was an American painter, printmaker and teacher known for chronicling African American related subjects in paintings, drawings, lithographs, and murals. One of his best-known works, The Contribution of the Negro to American Democracy, was completed in 1943 at Hampton University. In 2021, the university received a grant from African American Cultural Heritage Action Fund to assist with the preservation of the historic mural.
Early Life
White was born in Chicago in 1918. His mother raised him, and she would often leave him at the public library, where he developed an affinity for art and reading at a young age. His mother also took him to the Art Institute of Chicago, where he would read and look at paintings.
When he was seven years old, his mother bought him a set of oil paints, which hooked him on painting. Since he had little money growing up, White often painted on whatever surfaces he could find including shirts, cardboard, and window blinds.
During his childhood, he often visited family in Mississippi, where he learned about his heritage and African American Southern folklore – themes that heavily influenced his art throughout his career.
“Art must be an integral part of the struggle. It can’t simply mirror what’s taking place. It must adapt itself to human needs. It must ally itself with the forces of liberation. The fact is, artists have always been propagandists. I have no use for artists who try to divorce themselves from the struggle.” — Charles White
After reading Alain Locke’s book The New Negro: An Interpretation, White’s social views changed, and he questioned his teachers on why important African American figures in American history were not taught to students in school. Disillusioned with the system, White did not graduate from high school, but he was encouraged by art teachers to submit his work. He won various scholarships and admittance to two art schools, only to have these taken away because of his race. He eventually received a full scholarship and attended the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. He also studied at the Art Students League of New York and the Taller de Grafica Popular in Mexico.
Career and Legacy
In 1938, White was hired by the Illinois Art Project, a state affiliate of the Works Progress Administration. In 1940, his work received an extended showing at the Chicago Coliseum during the Exhibition of the Art of the American Negro, which was part of the American Negro Exposition commemorating the 75th anniversary of Thirteenth Amendment ending slavery. White became an important figure in what is known as the Chicago Black Renaissance, and his work was widely exhibited.
White was also a teacher. He taught at Dillard University beginning in 1941, and he taught at the George Washington Carver School in New York from 1943 to 1945. He was artist-in-residence at Howard University in Washington, DC, in 1945. From 1965 to his death in 1979, White taught at the Otis Art Institute in Los Angeles.
White moved to Los Angeles for its mild climate in 1956 and eventually to Altadena. Following his death in 1979, a local park was named after him.
Today, White’s works can be seen in collections across the world, including Atlanta University, the Barnett Aden Gallery, the Deutsche Academie der Kunste, the Dresden Museum of Art, Howard University, the Library of Congress, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Minneapolis Institute of Art, the Oakland Museum, the Smithsonian American Art Museum, the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, Syracuse University and the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts.
To learn more about this amazing artist and teacher, search our catalog for resources available in our collection.