By Rowan Walrath, City Pulse editor
In a quiet room resting on the right side of Dorchester’s 96-year-old Strand Theatre, a group of lesser-known historical figures hangs solemnly on the walls, their faces depicted in earthy oil on canvas: in soft grey lines, in muted blues, in violent shouts of patriotic red. Their expressions are at the viewer’s discretion: possibly solemn, maybe determined, but certainly proud. Together, they make up “Triumph! Unsung Black Veterans in US History,” a collaboration among the Strand Theatre Gallery, Artists for Humanity Boston and the Tri-Ad Veterans League.
The art on display was created entirely by students, some as young as 14, who have been working under the guidance of Haywood Fennell, founder of the Tri-Ad Veterans League and the Veterans Reading Brigade. Artists were required to research at least one historical military figure of color for each portrait. The paintings depict a long history of individuals, from Crispus Attucks, the first man killed in the American Revolution, to Benjamin O. Davis, commander of the World War II Tuskegee Airmen and the first black US Air Force general. The collection will be on display at the Strand Theatre until Armistice Day, Nov. 11.
Alda Marshall Witherspoon, director of public and private partnerships in the Mayor’s Office of Sports, Tourism and Entertainment, had some choice words to describe the exhibit.
“Emotional,” Witherspoon said. “Poignant. I call it earthy history… it gets down to the root of the thing.”
Because each piece required its artist to perform extensive background research, the project played an important role in the students’ education. It forced the students to exercise their history and literacy skills.
“My real concern was with literacy,” Fennell said. “Middle school students don’t appreciate literacy, what they could become. We could enlighten the artists who have to research their subjects, black military veterans from the American Revolution up to World War II.”
“It’s a new and different way to have discussions about what has happened in American history,” Witherspoon said.
Because it focuses on the arts as a means to educate middle-schoolers, this project subverts forms of more traditional study. It allows students the unique opportunity to view their own history and future from a close, personal perspective.
“We’re just trying to… galvanize force for alternative education,” Fennell said. “We can no longer just depend on the public education system to educate our children. It needs to be personal. We need to have people who have conscience of educating our young people, for they represent the future. We want them to be strong and know about social justice.”
The purpose of this project is to highlight and then fill a gap in public education: the history of veterans of color. In turn, the exhibit has received a great deal of support from the African-American community.
“I couldn’t believe that people would be this interested in what happened to black soldiers,” Witherspoon said. “One [person] said…‘When was the last time we all got together that it wasn’t a funeral?’”
“Triumph!” encourages a particular patriotic feeling. In a country that is still rife with inequalities, it offers a celebration of minority groups’ fight for a collective freedom.
“It elicits a pride from people who were basically brought here as slaves,” Witherspoon said. “It’s a collaborative freedom, and I find that to be unselfish.”
In keeping with the theme of collaboration, the exhibit actively encourages cooperative education between younger and older members of the community. The collection has been adapted into a calendar, the sales of which have been used to raise funds for the Veterans Reading Brigade, an initiative of volunteer veterans who will improve literacy skills through mentoring.
“That is the objective… to educate and to empower from a history that is not taught,” Fennell said. “As an artist educator, I still see the importance of getting this out into the community.”
In addition to the calendar, Fennell, along with the Strand Theatre Gallery, Artists for Humanity Boston and the Tri-Ad Veterans League, has started a petition to turn the paintings into US postage stamps. The campaign has been running since January, and the petition will be announced and put online this week.
“Triumph!” celebrated its opening on Aug. 14 and received enormous support. A diverse cross-section of life in the form of nearly 400 visual artists, historians, politicians, activists and members of the community made an appearance at the Strand.
The exhibit’s closing, however, is planned to be even larger than its opening. The closing celebration will take place on Armistice Day, the Strand Theatre’s 96th birthday, as part of a much larger celebration, the Strand’s Countdown to 100.
The Strand plans to give awards to community veterans, Witherspoon said. Buffalo soldiers and Tuskegee Airmen, for example, are still living, active members of the community. The closing celebration allows community leaders an opportunity to honor them.
“We can tell them ‘job well done,’” Witherspoon said.
In addition to these veterans, the closing will present a chance to honor those behind the gallery: the 11 young artists whose work has given so much to the community.
“It became more than just a picture,” Fennell said. “It became a contribution by understanding education’s importance in art. They helped our community, yes they did.”
Photo courtesy Auston Harris
