The History of African American Women's Art Education at Spelman College

By 4acolem8

  • New Salem Academy in New Salem, MA established

    Where Harriet Giles and Sophia Packard would later meet
  • Sophia B. Packard was born in New Salem, MA

    Sophia B. Packard was born in New Salem, MA

    Education and Christian (Baptist) faith instilled in family

  • American Baptist Home Mission Society, established in New York City, begins to support missions and build mission schools

    (1832) No exact date
  • Harriet E. Giles born in New Salem, MA

    Harriet E. Giles born in New Salem, MA

    The youngest of 10 children in a Christian (Baptist) family

  • Hon. Samuel Giles, Harriet’s father, elected as a trustee of New Salem Academy

    (1834) No exact date; All of his children would attend the school
  • Period: to

    Issues of slavery and women’s rights stirring

    (1840s) No exact date
  • Period: to

    Refusal to accept women as delegates to the World Anti-Slavery Convention in London

  • Packard begins teaching

    (1845) No exact date; Packard was a student and assistant teacher; she attended New Salem Academy, but was otherwise schooled elsewhere
  • Period: to

    Lucretia Mott and Elizabeth Cady Stanton organize the first American women's rights convention in Seneca Falls, New York

    The Declaration of Sentiments was signed by 68 women and 32 men

  • Harriet Tubman flees slavery to escape to the North and begins working with the Underground Railroad

    (1849) No exact date

  • Oread Collegiate Institute founded and opened

    One of the first institutions to offer college education to women

  • Giles received a certificate to teach a common school at age 16 from the School Committee of New Salem

  • Packard earns diploma from Charlestown Female Academy in Massachusetts

    (1850) No exact date; She continued teaching in Cape Cod

  • Giles’ teaching certificate is renewed

    (1850) No exact date
  • Period: to

    Decisions about slavery and freedmen, women’s right to education, and patriotic duty of Christian people to promote and maintain idea of Christian home life for America

    (1850s-1880s) No exact date; Home Mission Schools and northern teachers from New England work toward the advancement of African Americans

  • Giles’ teaching certificate is renewed

    (1852) No exact date

  • Packard was preceptress and teacher at New Salem Academy (one of the earliest boarding school for boys and girls)

    (1854) No exact date; Packard meets Harriet Giles, a senior and assistant pupil, here

  • Giles enjoys music and takes classical course at New Salem Academy

    (1854) No exact date; Giles resumes studies after 3 years of teaching at New Salem Academy; She begins friendship with Packard
  • Period: to

    Packard and Giles go on to teach at a village school in Petersham, and then in the village of Orange (spent 3 years here)

    (1855-1859) No exact date

  • Packard and Giles feel capable of establishing their own school and open one in Fitchburg, MA

    (March 1859) No exact date; They gain a good reputation

  • Packard and Giles go on to the Connecticut Literary Institution in Suffield, CT

    (Fall 1859) No exact date; Packard acts as Preceptress, and Giles acts as a painting, drawing, and music teacher

  • Abraham Lincoln begins presidential term

  • Packard and Giles resign from Connecticut Literary Institution

    (1864) No exact date

  • Packard and Giles go on to Oread Collegiate Institute in Worcester, MA

    (Summer 1864) No exact date; Packard acts as the executive head of OCI, one of the “Principals,” and Instructor of metaphysics and literature; Giles acts as Instructor of ornamentals and music

  • Abraham Lincoln is assassinated

  • Packard and Giles leave Oread Collegiate Institute

    (1867) No exact date

  • Packard and Giles begin their time in Boston

    (1868) No exact date; Packard worked at Empire Life Insurance Company, and became a pastor’s assistant; Giles kept house and gave music lessons, and taught a Sunday school class; Family interests, changes, and deaths took up their time and strength

  • Hon. Samuel Giles dies

    (1875) No exact date; He remained on the Board of New Salem Academy until his death

  • Woman’s American Baptist Home Mission Society, an auxiliary to American Baptist Home Mission Society, established by New England women in Boston

    (1877) No exact date; Appeals for aid started coming in to the WABHMS, including appeals from freed slaves with no schools for their children; Packard was a proponent in the organization and presided over the meeting that formed the society; Packard was elected treasurer and on committees

  • Packard was elected corresponding secretary of WABHMS

    (1878) No exact date

  • 1st Journey South for Packard and Giles

    (1880) No exact date; Packard went from Boston to Philly to Richmond to Nashville to New Orleans visiting churches, schools, and homes, even Negro ones, talking with teachers; Packard becomes sick and Giles comes down from Boston; Giles visits homes, schools, and churches, even Negro ones; Packard and Giles leave for Cincinnati and head back to Boston; They desire to start a school in the South for Negro women and girls after experiences; They were moved by the desperate need for a school

  • Packard and Giles face hesitation from the WABHMS to endorse their proposal for the school for months

    (1880) No exact date; The women point out that although there was a Baptist school for Negroes in all the Southern states, there was not one in GA for education of women and girls; The women pointed out that Georgia had the largest colored population, with a huge proportion that were Baptists

  • Packard and Giles decide to leave Boston

    (1880) No exact date
  • Period: to

    Giles and Packard visit her brother, Hiram Giles, at the Oread Institute in Wisconsin for help with plans for Spelman College

    (1880s) No exact date

  • Packard and Giles decide to raise money to send themselves South

    (1881) No exact date; Packard resigns from WABHMS; Packard and Giles slowly gain funds for their travel expenses and salaries

  • A special meeting of the Board of WABHMS met for Packard to express her views on starting the school

  • Packard speaks of plans for the school at a WABHMS meeting

    WABHMS votes in favor for Packard and Giles’ school to be established with concurrence from the ABHMS

  • CLI alum, Reverend George Olcott King, introduced Packard and Giles to John D. Rockefeller, Jr. in Cleveland, OH

    (1882) No exact date

  • Nancy Elizabeth Proffitt is born in Warwick, RI

    The second child of William H. and Rosa E. Walker Proffitt

  • Hale Aspacio Woodruff is born in Cairo, IL

    The only child of George and Augusta Bell Woodruff

  • Prophet enters the Rhode Island School of Design (RISD)

    (September 1913) No exact date

  • Prophet marries Francis Ford

  • Woodruff graduates from high school in Nashville, TN

    (1918) No exact date; Moves to Indianapolis with friend and educator, George W. Gore

  • Prophet completes studies at RISD in free-hand drawing and painting with a concentration in portraiture

    (1918) No exact date
  • Period: to

    Woodruff enters the Herron Art School in Indianapolis, IN, and begins working at Senate Avenue Young Men's Christian Association (YMCA)

    (1920s) No exact date; He draws political cartoons for the African American newspaper, the Indianapolis Ledger, that engage social issues, including police brutality, lynching, and segregation

  • Patron and art supply store owner, Hermann Lieber, gives Woodruff a book on African art entitled Afrikanische Plastik by Carl Einstein

    (1921) No exact date; This book will greatly influence the artist's style and compositions

  • Prophet leaves for Paris, France on the S.S. La France

    (1922) No exact date
  • Period: to

    Prophet studies sculpture at the Ecole des Beaux-Arts in Paris, France

    (1922-1925) No exact date; She moves 3 times in search of affordable housing in Paris
  • Period: to

    Woodruff withdraws from Herron Art School because of financial difficulties, and moves to Chicago, IL to study part-time at The School of the Art Institute of Chicago

    (1922-1925) No exact date; Woodruff returns to Indianapolis and meets Morehouse College president John Hope; Woodruff's work is included in exhibitions at the Senate Avenue YMCA and is the subject of a solo exhibition at the Pettis Department Art Store Galleries in Indianapolis

  • Prophet exhibits a wooden bust at the Salon D'Automne in Paris, France

    (1924) No exact date

  • Woodruff serves as the membership secretary of the Senate Avenue YMCA

    (1925) No exact date; He entered 5 paintings under the pseudonym Icabod Crane into the Amy Spingarn Competition for the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People's Crisis magazine and received 3rd prize for illustration; His work was presented in a solo exhibition at the 135th Street Branch of the New York Public Library (now, the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture)
  • Period: to

    Prophet produces a prolific body of sculpture

    (1925-1929) No exact date; She suffered from desolation and poverty; Created the following works during this time, "Bitter Laughter" (or "Laughing Man"), "Discontent," "Head in Ebony," "Head of a Negro," "Poise," "Prayer" (or "Poverty"), and "Silence"

  • Indiana governor Edward Jackson presents Woodruff with a medal, and the Florentine Club of Franklin, IN produces a play to help fund his studies in France

    (1926) No exact date; Banker and Harmon Foundation patron Otto Kahn pledges $250 per year for 2 years of support for Woodruff's study in France; Woodruff wins 2nd place prize in drawing in the Amy Spingarn Competition of The Crisis magazine; He submitted 4 landscape and figurative paintings to the William E. Harmon Foundation and won the bronze prize (and a stipend of $100) for an oil painting, "Two Old Women"

  • Woodruff participates in exhibitions at the Pettis Department Store Art Galleries, the Senate Avenue YMCA, Herron Art School, and the Hoosier Art Salon in Chicago, IL

    (1926) No exact date

  • Woodruff travels with YMCA Director Fayburn E. DeFrantz to Topeka, KS to celebrate the YMCA's successful membership campaign

    (Spring 1926); Woodruff meets high school educator Theresa Ada Barker in Kansas

  • Eleanor Burgess Green purchases Prophet's sculpture, "Head of a Negro"

  • Prophet enters "Tete de Jeune Fille" into an exhibition at Salon D'Automne under the name Eli Prophet

    No exact date; Mabel Gardner appeals to Providence, RI philanthropists to financially support Prophet. Gardner would continue to solicit funds on Prophet's behalf for several years

  • Woodruff sails for Europe aboard the S.S. Paris

  • Woodruff arrives in Paris, France, and begins attending classes at the Academie Scandinave and Academie Moderne

    (Fall 1927) No exact date; He also visits Claude Monet's memorial exhibition at the Jeu de Paume
  • Period: to

    Woodruff's paintings, "In the Garden," "Snow Scene," "Twilight," and "Two Old Women" are included in "The Negro in Art Week" exhibition at The Art Institute of Chicago

  • Woodruff begins working on an oil painting depicting six performance and visual artists, which is reproduced on the cover of the August 1928 issue of The Crisis magazine

    (December 1927) No exact date

  • Woodruff's paintings "Point Neuf" and "Quai de Montebello" are included in the Harmon Foundation's First Annual Exhibition and reproduced in the accompanying catalogue

    (January 1928) No exact date
  • Period: to

    Prophet begins creating bas-relief painted wood sculptures including "Peace" and "Facing the Light"

    (1928-1931) No exact date
  • Period: to

    Woodruff's articles on his observations in Paris, including "Local Negro Artists Finds Painters Hard to Classify," "Local Negro Tells of View from Notre Dame," and "Paris's Montparnasse" appear in The Indianapolis Star

  • Woodruff wins first prize- the Charles Waddell Chestnutt Honorarium- for the untitled painting of performance and visual artists; The work is featured on the cover of the August 1928 issue of The Crisis magazine

    (1928) No exact date; Woodruff and Harlem Renaissance leader Alain Locke visit a flea market in Paris and purchase two African sculptures; In search of Henry Ossawa Tanner in France, Woodruff finally visits him in Etaples; Arts patron Abby Aldrich Rockefeller and poet Countee Cullen support Woodruff by purchasing his work
  • Period: to

    Prophet's sculptures "Silence" and "Head of a Negro" are featured in Exhibition of Work by Former Students and Teachers in Commemoration of the Fiftieth Anniversary of Rhode Island School of Design

  • Prophet sends photographs of her work to the Harmon Foundation with a strong recommendation from Henry Ossawa Tanner; Her work is not considered because it is received after the deadline

  • Louise Brooks purchases Prophet's sculpture "Head of Roland Hayes"

    (1928) No exact date

  • Woodruff's paintings "Along the Eure at Chartres," "Medieval Chartres," "Normandy Landscape," and "Old Farmhouse in Beauce Valley" are included in the Harmon Foundation annual exhibition, which travels to Spelman College

    (January 1929) No exact date

  • Woodruff participates in exhibitions at the Downtown Gallery in New York and the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, D.C.

    (1929) No exact date; With the encouragement of Harmon Foundation director Mary Beattie Brady, sociologist George Haynes, and Alain Locke, Woodruff begins to incorporate African American subjects in his genre and portrait paintings; Helen Harmon, daughter of the founder of the Harmon Foundation, and Marthe Henroid purchase works by Woodruff

  • Prophet's sculpture "Head of a Cossack" and another work whose whereabouts are unknown are shown at the Boston Society of Independent Artists

    (February 1929) No exact date

  • The February 16 issue of the Boston Evening Transcript calls Prophet's work "a powerful thing, one of the few outstanding things in the show" of the Boston Society of Independent Artists

  • Prophet's sculpture "Buste d'homme" is exhibited at the Societe des Artistes Francais and is favorably reviewed by the periodical "l'Art Contemporain"

    (April 1929)

  • Prophet's husband, Francis Ford, returns to the US

    (1929) No exact date

  • Countee Cullen hosts a tea in Paris in honor of Prophet on the occasion of exhibiting her work at the Societe des Artistes Francais

  • Countee Cullen interviews Prophet for the National Urban League's Opportunity magazine; the article, "Elizabeth Prophet: Sculptress," including photos of Prophet's sculptures "Head of a Negro," "Silence," & "Discontent," appears in the July 1930 issue

    (Summer 1929) No exact date

  • Prophet welcomes Augusta Savage to her Paris studio at the request of W.E.B. DuBois

    (September 1929) No exact date

  • An article on Prophet and a reproduction of "Head in Ebony" appear in the September 15th issue of "la Revue Moderne Illustree"

    (1929) No exact date

  • The stock market crashes and the US enters the period known as the Great Depression, which will have a severe economic impact on the lives of African Americans

    The Wall Street Crash of 1929 and beginning of the Great Depression

  • Prophet returns to the US to promote her sculpture

    (1929) No exact date

  • Prophet receives a warm welcome in New York, where she socializes with W.E.B. DuBois, writer Owen Dodson, concert singer Roland Hayes, Harlem Renaissance patron Harold Jackman, and other members of black social circles

    (December 1929) No exact date

  • Prophet sketches at the Metropolitan Museum of Art

    (1929) No exact date

  • Prophet's sculpture "Head of a Negro" wins the $250 Harmon Foundation Otto Kahn Prize for sculpture

  • Woodruff's work is featured in two exhibitions at Galerie Jeune Peinture and Galerie Paquereau in Paris, France

    (Spring 1930) No exact date

  • Due to financial difficulties, Woodruff moves to Cagnes-sur-Mer in southern France and works as a road laborer; he will move several times in pursuit of inexpensive housing

    (Summer 1930) No exact date

  • NAACP chief executive Walter White helps Woodruff find patrons, including anthropologist Arthur Huff Fauset; Composer, educator, and writer James Weldon Johnson and patron, photographer, and writer Carl Van Vechten

    (1930) No exact date

  • Prophet goes back to France

    (August 1930) No exact date

  • Prophet submits sculptures "Head of a Negro" and "Poise" to the Harmon Foundation

    (September 1930) No exact date

  • Woodruff sends "Head of a Woman," "Provencal Landscape," "Still Life," and "The Card Players," a theme he would revisit throughout his career, to the Harmon Foundation for its 1931 annual exhibition

    (Fall 1930) No exact date

  • Prophet's work is shown at the Boston Society of Independent Artists, 56th Street Galleries, International House, Milch Galleries, and the Salons of America at the American-Anderson Galleries in New York

    No exact date; Ellen D. Sharpe and Eleanor Burgess Green purchase "Discontent" at the 56th Street Galleries for $1,000 and donate it to RISD; Prophet appeals to patrons Otto Kahn, Louise Brooks, and Helen D. Wright for additional financial support; Prophet works with W.E.B. DuBois to apply for financial support from the Barnes, Solomon R. Guggenheim, and Julius Rosenwald Foundations
  • Period: to

    Woodruff participates in the Summer Landscapes exhibition at the Downtown Gallery in New York

  • Woodruff's paintings "Banjo Player," "Bridge near Avalon," "Old Street," "Paris," "Old Woman Peeling Apples," and "Washer Women" are shown in the Harmon Foundation annual exhibition in New York in January; "Banjo Player" earns an honorable mention

    (1930) No exact date

  • Woodruff's paintings "The Card Players," "Head of a Woman," "Provencal Landscape," and "Still Life" are featured in the Harmon Foundation annual Exhibition; He participates in the Exposition des Artistes Cagnois exhibition in Cagnes-sur-Mer, France

    (January 1931) No exact date
  • Period: to

    Prophet's sculpture "Buste Marbre" is included in an exhibition at the Societe des Artistes Francais

    (March-April 1931) No exact date

  • Woodruff executes his first mural at a cafe in Cagnes-sur-Mer in exchange for board

    (April 1931) No exact date

  • Walter White writes to arts patron and educator Harold Jackman to solicit financial aid for woodruff after hearing from the Julius Rosenwald Fund's comptroller, Nathan Levin, of Woodruff's financial difficulties

  • Prophet attends the Colonial Exposition in Paris, France, which focuses on France's colonies throughout the world, including those in Africa; The exhibit influences the artist in subject matter and media

    (1931) No exact date; She beings to render facial features of African people in her sculpture, as can be seen in the seminal "Congolais"
  • Period: to

    Woodruff's and John Wesley Hardrick's paintings are exhibited at the Atlanta University High School Library

  • Woodruff returns to the US to accept a teaching position at Atlanta University

  • Woodruff exhibits paintings at the Downtown, Feragil, L'Elan, and Valentine Galleries in New York

    (Fall 1931) No exact date

  • Woodruff begins his tenure at Atlanta University and is assigned to teach art at the Laboratory High School on the Spelman College campus and also at the Oglethorpe Elementary School on the Atlanta University campus

    (Fall 1931) No exact date; He teaches courses in arts appreciation, drawing, painting, and advanced painting and composition

  • Woodruff applies for a fellowship from the Solomon R. Guggdenheim Memorial Foundation; He does not receive the funding

    (1931) No exact date; Woodruff visits the High Museum, then known as the city's art museum, and is told by the African American janitor, "You know that besides me you are the first colored man to walk through the door during the whole twenty years I have been working here"
  • October 15th issue of the Campus Mirror (Vol. 8, No. 1)

    October 15th issue of the Campus Mirror (Vol. 8, No. 1)

    Under the article, “New Faculty Members,” it notes Mr. Hale Woodruff as a “Negro artist; studied four years in France; offers college course in art open to students of Morehouse College, Spelman College, Morris Brown University, Clark University, and Atlanta University”
  • The senior Home Economics students sponsored exhibit and had tea as an opportunity to see exhibit of dresses made by junior and sophomore clothing classes, and scrapbooks and bookends made by freshman Household Arts students

    The senior Home Economics students sponsored exhibit and had tea as an opportunity to see exhibit of dresses made by junior and sophomore clothing classes, and scrapbooks and bookends made by freshman Household Arts students

    The dresses represented fall and winter styles and were arranged on construction tables in the clothing laboratory; scrapbooks and bookends were similarly arranged in another art room; Miss Dunlap poured the tea and the students served over 100 guests
  • December 15th issue of the Campus Mirror (Vol. 8, No. 3)

    December 15th issue of the Campus Mirror (Vol. 8, No. 3)

    Article: “Exhibit of Clothing and Art”

  • Nancy Elizabeth Proffitt changes the spelling of her last name to Prophet

    (1932) No exact date

  • Woodruff's paintings "Atlanta Landscape" and "View of Atlanta" are included in the Harmon Foundation annual exhibition

    (January 1932) No exact date
  • January 15th issue of the Campus Mirror (Vol. 8, No. 4)

    January 15th issue of the Campus Mirror (Vol. 8, No. 4)

    Under the article, "Lecture by Dr. Lewis Browne," it states that a lecture was held by Dr. Lewis Browne, an artist, author, lecturer, and humanitarian to Spelman, Morehouse, and Atlanta University students in Howe Memorial Hall on Monday at 4:30 pm. He proposed that a war against ignorance, pitched by the educated minority, is the only solution for the problem of the conquest of fear from which the world still suffers.
  • Period: to

    Exhibition of Paintings by Hale Woodruff

    An exhibition of paintings by Mr. Hale Woodruff was held in Laura Spelman Hall and was well attended by members of the Spelman community and their friends. He explained the intense modernity of the paintings as expressive of a stage of experimentation in subject, form, and color.
  • February 15th issue of the Campus Mirror (Vol. 8, No. 5)

    February 15th issue of the Campus Mirror (Vol. 8, No. 5)

    Under the article, "Announcements," it states that the exhibition of paintings by Mr. Hale Woodruff in Laura Spelman Hall during the weeks of January 17-31 was well attended by members of the Spelman community and their friends. He explained the intense modernity of the paintings as expressive of a stage of experimentation in subject, form, and color. The general reaction was bewilderment, but some people with "the right to criticise" did highly praise some of the works in the collection.
  • Period: to

    Prophet's sculptures "Violence" and "Head in Ebony" are included in an exhibition at the Societe des Artistes Francais

    (March-April 1932) No exact date

  • The library in the Trevor Arnett building on the Atlanta University Campus is completed; The building will become an important exhibition venue welcoming African American artists and diverse audiences during segregation

    (April 1932) No exact date

  • Prophet visits the US

    (May 1932) No exact date

  • Freshman Home Economics Class Exhibit

    11 Freshman home economics majors exhibit in Laura Spelman Hall. The exhibit gave a glimpse into their workshop and the things that they had done. There were block prints, scarfs, table covers, posters, pajamas, slips, and dresses.
  • May-June issue of the Campus Mirror (Vol. 8, No. 8)

    May-June issue of the Campus Mirror (Vol. 8, No. 8)

    Article, "Freshman Home Economics Class Exhibit": 11 Freshman home economics majors exhibit in Laura Spelman Hall on May 26th. The exhibit gave a glimpse into their workshop and the things that they had done. There were block prints, scarfs, table covers, posters, pajamas, slips, and dresses.

  • Prophet is elected to membership in the Art Association of Newport, RI, and legally separated from Francis Ford

    (June 1932) No exact date
  • Period: to

    Prophet's sculptures "Silence," "Poise," "Peace," "Congolais," and "Discontent" are exhibited at the Art Association of Newport

  • Prophet's work is featured in an exhibition at an antique shop in Newport, RI, cosponsored by shop owner Schuyler Parsons and interior and set designer Casey Roberts

    (1932) No exact date

  • Gertrude Vanderbilt Payne Whitney purchases Prophet's "Congolais" for the Whitney Museum of American Art

  • Prophet is profiled in The Crisis magazine article entitled "Can I Become a Sculptor: The Story of Elizabeth Prophet"

    (October 1932) No exact date
  • Period: to

    Prophet's sculptures "Bitter Laughter," "Congolais," "Discontent," "Head in Bronze," "Head of a Negro," "Peace," "Poise," "Study (Head) in Ebony," "Violence," and "Youth" are exhibited at the Robert C. Vose, Jr. Galleries in Boston, MA

    "Discontent" wins the Richard S. Greenough grand prize at the Art Association of Newport

  • Prophet appeals to the Carnegie Corporation for financial support

    (December 1932)

  • Woodruff's work is included in the Harmon Foundation annual exhibition

    (January 1933) No exact date

  • The Carnegie Corporation donates five thousand photographic reproductions of paintings, sculpture, and architecture to Atlanta University

    (1933) No exact date
  • Period: to

    Woodruff completes woodcut and linoleum prints documenting buildings within the Atlanta University Center and surrounding community

    (1933-1939) No exact date

  • Frederick Keppel of the Carnegie Corporation presents Spelman College President Florence Read with a proposal fro Prophet to teach fine arts courses at the College

    (1933) No date; The Corporation approves funds to underwrite Prophet's salary, but she opts to return to France to complete a commission

  • Woodruff adds an Arts Appreciation seminar to the Atlanta University curriculum

    (Spring 1933) No exact date

  • March 15 issue of the Campus Mirror (Vol. 9, No 6.)

    Article, "Atlanta University Received Gift of Paintings": A gift of a collection of over 5,000 photographic reproductions of masterpieces of painting, sculpture, and architecture (covering every significant art movement and valued at $5,000) was made from the College Art Reference Set of the Carnegie Corporation to Atlanta University. The set was designed and distributed in order to promote the study of art. The set is housed in the exhibition room of the Atlanta University Library for students

  • Woodruff participates in a small exhibition celebrating the opening of composer Hall Johnson's musical "Run, Little Children" at the Lyric Theatre in New York

    (May 1933) No exact date
  • May-June Issue of the Campus Mirror (Vol. 9, No. 8)

    May-June Issue of the Campus Mirror (Vol. 9, No. 8)

    Issue notes and depicts student artwork in the publication. Thanks were given to Cecil Long, who designed the front outside cover of the issue, and Alice Elaine Selby, whose design from the Applied Art class was used on the back outside cover. A linoleum block prints by Harriet Turner and Cornelia Wallace were shown on page 16.

  • Woodruff studies at the Fogg Museum of Art at Harvard University through a grant from the American Institute of Architects

    (Summer 1933) No exact date
  • Period: to

    Woodruff's painting "Landscape" is included in an exhibition organized by historian Carter G. Woodson and the Association for the Study of Negro Life at the Smithsonian Institution

  • October 15th issue of the Campus Mirror (Vol. 10, No. 1)

    Article, "Mabel Randolph Brooks": Talks about her work in the fine arts field. She studied and taught at many institutions like PAFA and Florida A&M College. In 1924 and 1925, she secured groundbreaking exhibitions of student and famous paintings that exhibited in Negro schools and Atlanta, and brought the races together, In 1930, she was the first Negro to receive the Bachelor of Fine Arts degree from Yale University. She would be teaching art appreciation for a time at the three institutions.

  • October 15th issue of the Campus Mirror (Vol. 10, No. 1)

    Article, "Art Appreciation": Miss Mabel Brooks would be the instructor of the new course in Art Appreciation for the 3 institutions' students. This was made possible by the Carnegie Corp. (known for their deep interest in Negro education). She has traveled abroad, and is a notable artist. The course would be held in the exhibition room of the Atlanta University Library. The collection of pictures donated by the Carnegie Corp. would be used. The course is open to upperclassmen and AU studnets

  • Opening and Art Exhibit of Works by Mrs. Farnsworth Drew

    30 paintings by Atlanta artist, Wisconsin native, Mrs. Farnsworth Drew were transported (week of Nov. 5) from the High Museum to AU's exhibition hall (University library) for 8 days. On Nov. 5, she spoke at formal opening w/ the AU Art Dept. about art appreciation and bringing people together through art. The first of a series to be shown at the University Library. It included seascapes she painted while at Sea Island near Nova Scotia where she had established a studio.

  • The Art Appreciation Class by Mabel R. Brooks Ennds

    Miss Mabel R. Brooks taught the public lecture series, which consisted of six lectures, that ended on November 10. The course afforded students a rich cultural background for further personal development. The aim for the course was to teach the art of living through the medium of fine arts.

  • November 15th issue of the Campus Mirror

    Two print images in publication; Article, "The Art Appreciation Class Ends": Miss Mabel R. Brooks taught the public lecture series that ended on November 10. The key lecture was "The Art of Living." The other lectures were "The American Negro and the Fine Arts," "French Cathedrals of the Thirteenth Century," "The Art of the Italian Renaissance," "Dutch Art of the Seventeenth Century," and "Spanish Art." This was supplemented by discussions of pictures from the Carnegie Corp. Personal Development

  • November 15th issue of the Campus Mirror

    Article, "Negro Art and Literature at The Century of Progress Exposition": On Negro Day at the Fair, a Negro Art and Literature Exhibit was open to the public, followed by a program and reception. The collection and the artists exemplified evidence of Negro achievement in these areas.

  • Art Exhibit of Works by Allan Freelon

    Allan Freelon exhibited a collection of paintings and prints at the AU Library Exhibition Hall for 2 weeks starting Nov. 19. This was the second series of public exhibits sponsored by AU, arranged by Hale Woodruff (head of art dept). He was one of the best known contemporary Negro painters who studied at many schools. Since 1922, he was assistant to the director of art education of public schools in Philly. UPenn grad. Seascapes and landscapes. His 1st showing in South

  • December 15th issue of the Campus Mirror (Vol. 10, No. 3)

    Article, "Art Exhibits": 30 paintings by Atlanta artist, Wisconsin native, Mrs. Farnsworth Drew were transported (week of Nov. 5) from the High Museum to AU's exhibition hall (University library) for 8 days. Nov. 5, she spoke at formal opening w/ the AU Art Dept. about art appreciation and bringing people together through art. The first of a series to be shown at the University Library. It included seascapes she painted while at Sea Island near Nova Scotia where she had established a studio.

  • December 15th issue of the Campus Mirror

    Article, "Art Exhibits": Allan Freelon exhibited a collection of paintings and prints at the AU Library Exhibition Hall for 2 weeks starting Nov. 19. This was the second series of public exhibits sponsored by AU, arranged by Hale Woodruff (head of art dept). He was one of the best known contemporary Negro painters who studied at many schools. Since 1922, he was assistant to the director of art education of public schools in Philly. UPenn grad. Seascapes and landscapes. His 1st showing in South

  • The Spelman College Campus Mirror and Spelman Messenger feature Prophet in several issues

    (1934) No exact date

  • Woodruff organizes an exhibition focusing on the work of ten outstanding artists at the Atlanta University Library

    (February 1934) No exact date; Additional exhibits during that academic year include the work of artists who had exhibited with the Harmon Foundation, a solo exhibition for Allan Freelon, recent paintings by Woodruff and the annual student exhibition

  • Woodruff contributes the article titled "The Negro and Art" to the February issue of the Spelman Messenger

    (1934) No exact date

  • Woodruff's work is the subject of a solo exhibition at Spelman College

    (Spring 1934) No exact date

  • Prophet travels to the US to promote her sculpture; She resubmits a previously withdrawn Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation application to secure funding to create 4 marble sculptures and other small works but does not receive the fellowship

    (Spring 1934) No exact date

  • March 15th issue of the Campus Mirror

    Article, "Director of Harmon Foundation to Speak at Spelman Founders Day": The current director, Miss Mary Beattie Brady, delivered the Founders Day address on April 11. Notes that the Harmon Foundation recently designated the John Hope prize at the exhibitions by Negro artists, which was organized by the foundation. The foundation had organized for years exhibits of Negro artists. The 1929 and 1930 exhibits were shown at Spelman.

  • Woodruff adds Intermediate Painting and Composition to the Atlanta University curriculum

    (1934) No exact date

  • Mr. and Mrs. Best Speak at Spelman

    On April 2 and 3, Mr. and Mrs. Best spoke to the Spelman community. Mrs. Best (aka Eric Berry) was known by the community as an artist. The couple had been living in Nigeria, where Mr. Best was a district officer for the English government. Mrs. Best painted portraits of the native West Africans. On the 2nd, a group of students were invited to President Read's house to hear the couple speak. On the 3rd, Mrs. Best spoke during morning chapel about family life.

  • April 15th issue of the Campus Mirror

    Article, "Mr. and Mrs. Best": On April 2 and 3, Mr. and Mrs. Best spoke to the Spelman community. Mrs. Best (aka Eric Berry) was known by the community as an artist. The couple had been living in Nigeria, where Mr. Best was a district officer for the English government. Mrs. Best painted portraits of the native West Africans. On the 2nd, a group of students were invited to President Read's house to hear the couple speak. On the 3rd, Mrs. Best spoke during morning chapel about family life.

  • Woodruff and Theresa Ada Baker marry in Topeka, KS

  • Woodruff and Morehouse College student Wilmer Jennings create "The Negro in Modern American Life: Agriculture and Rural Life; Literature; Music; and Art," a 4-part mural at the David T. Howard Junior High School as part of the WPA/Public Works Project

    (Fall 1934) No exact date

  • Prophet begins teaching at Spelman College with an annual salary of $2,000 sponsored by the Carnegie Corporation; She will expand the curriculum offering by teaching modeling and history of art and architecture

    (Fall 1934) No exact date

  • A traveling exhibition of works from the permanent collection of the Whitney Museum of American Art is presented at the Atlanta University Library

    (1934) No exact date; Also at the Library, Woodruff organizes several exhibitions featuring the work of Henry Ossawa Tanner, Edward M. Bannister, William Edouard Scott, and Palmer Hayden and on the art of printmaking

  • Woodruff establishes the student group entitled the Painters Guild and requires his students to venture out and document the surrounding community; He also encourages his students to submit work to the Harmon Foundation

    (1934) No exact date

  • October 15th issue of the Campus Mirror

    Article, "Faculty News": New appointee, Miss N. Elizabeth Prophet, internationally known sculptor, to the department of art.

  • October 15th issue of the Campus Mirror: Article, "Miss N. Elizabeth Prophet"

    She teaches at the 3 schools. She joined the faculty of Spelman & offered clay modeling & art & architecture classes. She is internationally recognized, has exhibited in France and the US, & is represented in American art collections. Her work is at the Museum of RISD, & the Whitney Museum of Art. She studied at RISD & L'Ecole des Beaux Arts de Paris. For 8 years, she did independent study, creative work, & traveled. Her studio is in the north basement of Packard Hall, which is ideal for clay.

  • Spelman College hosts the annual Harmon Foundation exhibition; Woodruff's paintings "Shacks," "Still Life-Flowers," and "The Teamster's Place" are included in the exhibition

    (Spring 1935) No exact date

  • Woodruff's woodcuts "By Parties Unknown" and "Giddap" are included in the seminal exhibition An Art Commentary on Lynching at the Arthur U. Newton Galleries in New York, NY

    (February 1935) No exact date

  • Hale and Theresa Woodruff's son Roy is born

  • The Federal Arts Project (FAP) is established as a component of the Works Progress Administration (WPA)

    The program, a component of President Franklin D. Roosevelt's New Deal initiative, employed artists and funded public arts projects

  • Woodruff wins first, third, and fourth-place prizes at the Indiana State Fair

    (September 1935) No exact date

  • Introduction to the Fine Arts is added to the Atlanta University curriculum

    (Fall 1935) No exact date

  • The Fine Arts Faculty convenes its first departmental meeting where Atlanta University president John Hope presents his vision for the arts in the Atlanta University Center as "links in a chain" and establishes the Coordinated Art Program

    (1935) No exact date
  • Period: to

    An exhibition of Woodruff's work entitled Recent Paintings by Hale Woodruff is presented at the Atlanta University Library

  • Woodruff creates murals titled "Shantytown" and "Mudhill Row," funded by the WPA's FAP program for the Atlanta School of Social Work on the Atlanta University campus; the murals are eventually destroyed

    (1935) No exact date

  • Atlanta Constitution publisher and editor Ralph McGill profiles Woodruff in the article "Quiet, Modest Negro Here Hailed as One of Modern Masters"

  • Period: to

    Prophet receives a stipend of $30 a month from the Students Fund of Boston through the efforts of children's stories translator Louise W. Brooks of Boston and her assistant Lauren Heathfield

    (1936-1938) No exact date

  • Atlanta University President John Hope dies

  • Woodruff delivers a lecture at Talladega College about the importance of art

    (April 1936) No exact date
  • Period: to

    Woodruff's painting "Georgia Landscape" is included in the First National Exhibition of American Art at the International Building in Rockefeller Center in New York

    (May-June 1936) No exact date
  • Period: to

    Woodruff's painting and woodblock prints are featured in the "Exhibition of Fine Art Productions by American Negroes" in the Hall of Negro Life of the Texas Centennial Exposition in Dallas, TX

  • Period: to

    Woodruff travels with the Columbia University's International Institute of Teachers College to Cuernavaca, Mexico City and Taxco, Mexico, to study the art of Mexico and mural painting with Diego Rivera

    (July-August 1936) No exact date; He receives a fellowship from the General Education Board to fund his study

  • Woodruff, along with Atlanta University professor Harold Allen and historian Rayford Logan, showcases Mexican folk art at the Atlanta University Library

    (1936) No exact date

  • Woodruff organizes several exhibitions featuring the Carnegie Corp.'s Rembrandt etchings, African American art from the Harmon Foundation, & local collectors from the collection of F.P. Keppel of the Carnegie Corp.

    (1936) No exact date; And a presentation of photographs of African art from the Museum of Modern Art's permanent collection

  • Educator Dr. Rufus E. Clement becomes president of Atlanta University

    (1937) No exact date
  • Period: to

    Woodruff participates in the First National Exhibition of American Art at Rockefeller Center

  • Woodruff wins two first-place and one third-place prizes at the Indiana State Fair

    (September 1937) No exact date
  • Period: to

    Woodruff participates in the Art of the American Negro Exhibition at the Howard University Gallery of Art in Washington, DC

  • Exhibition of Paintings of Georgia and Mexico by Hale Woodruff is presented at the Atlanta University Library

  • Period: to

    Woodruff creates the Amistad murals (with 3 panels, "The Mutiny aboard the Amistad, 1839" "The Amistad Slaves on Trial at New Haven, Connecticut, 1840" and "The Return to Africa, 1842") and "The Founding of Talladega College, Talladega, AL" murals

    (1938-1939) No exact date; Continued: for Talladega College in Talladega, AL

  • The Seventh Annual Student Exhibition is held at Atlanta University

    (February 1938) No exact date
  • Period: to

    Woodruff, along with students William Hayden and Eugene Grigsby, participates in the Second Annual Exhibition of Paintings at Dillard University in New Orleans, LA

  • Mexico Hembree Mickelbury receives the first Fine Arts degree from Spelman College

    (June 1938) No exact date

  • Atlanta University presents an extensive schedule of exhibitions including Living American Art, Japanese Woodcuts, African Negro Carvings, Works of Hale Woodruff, European Manuscripts, Works of Negro Artists and Photographs of African Sculpture, etc.

    (1938) No exact date; Exhibitions continued: French Lithographs and Drawings by Honore Daumier and Old Masters from the Collection of Atlanta University, Mexican Art, and the Seventh Annual Exhibition of Students of Atlanta University, Morehouse College, and Spelman College

  • Woodruff's oil painting "Little Boy" is featured in the preview exhibition of southern contemporary artists at the Richmond Museum of Fine Arts in Richmond, VA, and is selected for inclusion at the 1939 New York World's Fair

    (December 1938) No exact date

  • The article titled "Hale Woodruff Among Georgia Artists to Exhibit Work at New York's World Fair" appears in the Atlanta University Bulletin

    (1938) No exact date
  • Period: to

    Woodruff contributes 8 wood engravings to the Contemporary Negro Art exhibition at the Baltimore Museum of Art

  • Works by more than 40 students are presented at the Atlanta University Library in The Eighth Annual Student Exhibition

    (Spring 1939) No exact date

  • The old power plant at Spelman College is remodeled into a sculpture studio and exhibition space

    (April 1939) No exact date
  • Period: to

    Woodruff's painting "Little Boy" (also known as "Negro Boy") is on view in Exhibition of Contemporary Art at the 1939 New York World's Fair

    (April-October 1939) No exact date

  • The Talladega murals are exhibited in Sisters Chapel at Spelman College; Woodruff's drawings and sketches are featured in an exhibition at Talladega College

  • Prophet is included in Who's Who of American Women

    (1939) No exact date

  • The Savery Library opens at Talladega College w/ a celebration commemorating the college founding in 1867 & 100th anniversary of the Amistad Mutiny; the celebration includes a performance of Owen Dodson's play The Amistad & dedication of Woodruff's murals

  • The article titled "Murals by Hale Woodruff" appears in the Spelman Messenger and the May 8th issue of the Spelman College Campus Mirror

    (May 1939) No exact date

  • Woodruff paints landscapes in Idaho Springs and Central City, CO

    (Summer 1939) No exact date

  • Woodruff wins first-place prizes at the Indiana State Fair for the oil painting "Old Mining Town" and third-place prize for an unknown artwork

    (September 1939) No exact date

  • "Autumn Landscape" is included in the Leading Artists of Georgia exhibition at the Atlanta University Library

    (January 1940) No exact date

  • Woodruff participates in the annual Harmon Foundation exhibition

    (1940) No exact date

  • Woodruff and his students participate in the Negro Art Week exhibition in downtown Atlanta, GA

    (February 1940) No exact date

  • The Ninth Annual Exhibition of Student Paintings and Drawings opens at the Atlanta University Library

    (Spring 1940) No exact date

  • Prophet's sculpture "After the Bust" is illustrated in the first issues of the quarterly journal Phylon, the Atlanta Review of Race and Culture; She also contributes the article titled "Art and Life" to the fourth quarter issue of the journal

    (1940) No exact date

  • Prophet's and Woodruff's works are reproduced in Alain Locke's art history book The Negro in Art: A Pictorial Record of the Negro Artists and the Negro Theme in Art

    (1940) No exact date
  • Period: to

    Prophet participates in the Contemporary American Art exhibition at Howard University's Andrew Rankin Memorial Chapel

  • Prophet participates in the "Fine Arts at Spelman College" exhibition

    (1940) No exact date

  • Woodruff participates in the Chicago Negro Artists exhibition at the Southside Arts Center in Chicago, IL

    (May 1940) No exact date
  • Period: to

    Woodruff participate in the major exhibition The Art of the American Negro (1851-1940) in Chicago, IL, and wins prizes for the woodcut "Sunday Promenade" and the watercolor painting "Fog and Rain in the Rockies"

  • Period: to

    Invitations sent to African American newspapers soliciting artist submissions for the first annual Exhibition of Paintings by Negro Artists to be held at Atlanta University

    (1941-1942) No exact date
  • Period: to

    Woodruff completes the social realist paintings "Effects of Poor Housing" and "Results of Good Housing" for the Herndon Homes public housing complex; The WPA commission illustrates the necessity of proper living conditions and environments

    (1941-1943) No exact date
  • Period: to

    Woodruff wins first prize for the watercolor painting "Fog and Rain in the Rockies" at the Tri-County Local Artists Show at the High Museum of Art

  • Woodruff's Amistad murals are featured in the first quarter issue of Phylon

    (1941) No exact date

  • Spelman College establishes a major in art with a requirement of 24 credits in arts curriculum; Woodruff teaches the Drawing and Painting, Intermediate Painting and Compostion, and Introduction to the Field of Fine Arts courses

    (September 1941) No exact date; Prophet instructs Modeling, Intermediate Modeling, Advanced Modeling, History of Art and Architecture, and Decorative Modeling
  • Period: to

    Woodruff participates in the 13th annual Exhibition of the Association of Georgia Artists at the Telfair Academy of Arts and Sciences in Savannah, Georgia

  • Woodruff' portrait of Haitian president Alexander Petion is published in the fourth issue of Phylon

    (1941) No exact date

  • Woodruff participates in American Negro Art: 19th and 20th Centuries at the Downtown Gallery in New York

    (December 1941) No exact date

  • The US enters into World War II and enrollment in the Atlanta University sharply declines

  • Woodruff's drawing series, "The Presidents of Atlanta University" is included in the second quarter issue of Phylon

    (1942) No exact date
  • Period: to

    Woodruff becomes a lecturer for the Association of American Colleges; He participates in the Inter-Racial Art exhibition at the International Print Society in New York, NY & at the G Place Gallery in Washington DC

    (1942-1944) No exact date

  • The first Exhibiton of Paintings by Negro Artists opens at Atlanta University; Aaron Douglas delivers the opening lecture; Atlanta University President Rufus Clement, High Museum Director Lewis P. Skidmore and artists Jean Charlot and Aaron Douglas serve

    Continued: as the exhibition jurors

  • During the awards ceremony for Exhibition of Paintings by Negro Artists, Alain Locke delivers an address entitled "The Significance of this Show in the Development of Negro Art and the Discovery of Negro Artists"

  • Prophet delivers the convocation address at Spelman College's Sisters Chapel titled "The Art of Living"

  • Laura Spelman Hall becomes the new location for the studio arts courses at Spelman College

    (1942) No exact date

  • Woodruff and artist-educator John Howard paint altarpiece "The Last Supper" for the Wheat Street Baptist Church in Atlanta, GA

    (Summer 1942) No exact date

  • TIME Magazine features Woodruff and his students in an article entitled "Black Beaux-Arts"

  • Woodruff teaches art courses at the People's College, a community continuing education program sponsored by Atlanta University

    (1942) No exact date
  • Period: to

    Woodruff' painting "Little Boy (aka Negro Boy)" is shown in the Exhibition of American Portrait Painting at the Howard University Gallery of Art in Washington DC

  • The Atlanta School is discussed extensively in art historian James Porter's seminal publication Modern Negro Art

    (1943) No exact date

  • Atlanta University President Rufus Clement redirects John Hope's strategic plan for a School of Fine Arts and announces a vision focusing instead on establishing Business Administration and Education programs & expanding the library's holdings

  • Woodruff and Atlanta University students participate in an exhibition at the J.B. Speed Memorial Museum in Louisville, KY

    (March 1943) No exact date

  • The Second Annual Exhibition of Paintings by Leading Negro Artists of Today opens at the Atlanta University Library; President Clement, High Museum Director Skidmore, University of Georgia Art Department Chairman Lamar Dodd, and

    Continued: artists Jean Charlot, Charles White, and Woodruff serve as the exhibition jurors; Skidmore delivers the opening address

  • Woodruff delivers a lecture on the subject of "The Exhibition of Negro Artists" for the Association of American Colleges at Fort Huachuca, AZ

  • Woodruff's mural depicting the founding of Talladega College titled "Opening Day" is illustrated in Fortune Magazine

    (July 1943) No exact date

  • Woodruff receives a Julius Rosenwald Foundation fellowship of $2,400 to pursue individual creativity in art; He travels through Alabama, Georgia, & Mississippi to document Jim Crow discrimination practices, labor, poor, and inadequate schools and

    (1943) No exact date; Continued: and housing conditions, sharecropping, soil erosion, and life in the rural South for African Americans in general; Woodruff moves to New York

  • The Third Annual Exhibition of Paintings, Sculpture, and Prints by Negro Artists opens at Atlanta University; for the first time in the history of the annual exhibits, sculpture and print submissions are included

    President Clement, High Museum Director Skidmore, Atlanta artist Mrs. Marjorie Conant Bush-Brown, Atlanta sculptor Steffan Thomas, and Woodruff serve a small jurors; artist Edward B. Alford Jr. delivers the opening address

  • Artist and Atlanta College of Art cofounder Ben Shute delivers the closing lecture

  • Prophet resigns from Spelman Collegr and returns to Rhode Island to pursue her own art

  • Woodruff organizes and participates in the exhibition The Negro Artist Comes of Age at the Albany Institute of History and Art in Albany, NY

    (Fall 1944) No exact date

  • Woodruff' grant from the Rosenwald Foundation fellowship is renewed

    (1945) No exact date

  • Prophet's work is featured in an exhibition at Providence, RI Public Library

    (April 1945) No exact date

  • The Fourth Annial Exhibition of Paintings, Sculpture, and Prints by Negro Artists opens at the Atlanta University Library

    (1945) No exact date
  • Period: to

    Woodruff' paintings are the subject of a solo exhibition at the International Print Society of New York, NY

  • Woodruff resumes his teaching duties in the Atlanta University Center

    (Fall 1945) No exact date

  • Woodruff works as a consultant for International Business Machines (IBM) to assist the company with developing an African American art collection

    (1946) No exact date

  • The Fifth Annual Exhibition of Paintings, Sculpture, and Prints by Negro Artists opens at the Atlanta University Library; Atlanta artist Julian Harris, Robert Rogers of the Atlanta Art Institute, and Woodruff serve as the exhibition jurors

    (April 1946) No exact date; Roland McKinney, director of the Pepsi-Cola Art Competition, delivers Thebes's opening address

  • Woodruff's linocut prints "Southern Scenes-I" and "Southern Scenes-II" are illustrated in the second and third quarter issues, respectively, of Phylon

    (Spring 1946) No exact date

  • A dean from New York University offers Woodruff a teaching position in the Department of Education

    (1946) No exact date

  • Woodruff moves to New York, NY to accept a teaching position at New York University, a move that marks a stylistic shift in husband artwork: Woodruff begins to fully incorporate abstraction into his painting

    (Fall 1946) No exact date