via Wikimedia
Artist Augusta Savage grew up in the early 1900s in Green Cove Springs, FL, a town whose KKK population still booms today.
Her talent was indisputable from a young age, and soon she left her small town to seek new opportunities for her art to blossom in New York during the cultural explosion known as the Harlem Renaissance.
Right away, elite art programs admired her talent and soon an invite to attend the prestigious Fontainebleau School of Fine Arts in France arrived.
But when the school’s leadership discovered she was Black, they snatched back their invitation. Devastated by such extreme prejudice, Savage turned to her community for strength.
Public outcry, including news articles and letter-writing campaigns from Harlem community members, secured her spot on the roster of other international programs.
But Savage transformed the anger over her rejection into a mission to make space for more Black artists to flourish free from discrimination, becoming the first Black woman to open her own art gallery in America – the Salon of Contemporary Negro Art.
Savage’s art collections inspired dialogue over the oppression yet dignified beauty of Black people with pieces such as “The Harp” and “Realization,” which depicted an enslaved couple at the moment they would be sold and separated.
Just like Augusta Savage did for artists in her day, we must continue to support the creation of spaces and communities that support our own, whether other institutions accept us or not.