African American Black

Vintage African American Black Universities New Orleans La Alumni 1950 R Brown

Vintage African American Black Universities New Orleans La Alumni 1950 R Brown
Vintage African American Black Universities New Orleans La Alumni 1950 R Brown
Vintage African American Black Universities New Orleans La Alumni 1950 R Brown
Vintage African American Black Universities New Orleans La Alumni 1950 R Brown
Vintage African American Black Universities New Orleans La Alumni 1950 R Brown
Vintage African American Black Universities New Orleans La Alumni 1950 R Brown
Vintage African American Black Universities New Orleans La Alumni 1950 R Brown
Vintage African American Black Universities New Orleans La Alumni 1950 R Brown
Vintage African American Black Universities New Orleans La Alumni 1950 R Brown

Vintage African American Black Universities New Orleans La Alumni 1950 R Brown
ALUMNI VOICE, XAVIER UNIVERSITY, NEW ORLEANS, LA, SEPTEMBER 1950. SOFTCOVERS-STAPLED BINDING, 12 INCHES TALL AND 24 pp. Soiling on the covers, horizontal fold line at the center, lower spine head torn, previous owners address on the back cover, otherwise a clean item with illustrations. Please do see the pics for the condition.

Cover illustration is done by RANDOLPH BROWN and here is his bio. BROWN - William Randolph Brown (1925 to 2010), a successful Grand Rapids artist and poet for over 60 years, departed this life on Thursday, April 1, 2010. He was 84 years old. Known primarily as "Randy" Brown and affectionately by family and friends as "Pops, " William was born to Clarence Edward Brown Sr.

And Betty Sarah Long Brown on November 5, 1925 in New Albany, Mississippi. At the age of one he moved with his parents to Memphis, Tennessee. William was an excellent student and after graduation from Memphis' St. Augustine Catholic School in 1942, enrolled at age sixteen at Xavier University of New Orleans, where he met fellow student and future wife, Clemma Gwendolyn McDaniel. While at Xavier, Brown double-majored in Fine Arts and English, and explored a childhood fascination with rail-trains and watercolors, using both as media for initial artistic efforts. While at Xavier, his paintings received numerous awards, including exhibition at Atlanta University's National Exposition of Negro Artists and Sculptors, the largest national event of its kind. After graduating at age 20 with honors from Xavier with an A. B in Fine Arts, Brown and his bride Clemma settled in Grand Rapids, MI. Shortly after gaining employment as a waiter at the prestigious Peninsular Club, Brown received management's approval to exhibit and market paintings to Pen Club patrons in its dining room. Brown later in 1946 hosted a one-man show at the Grand Rapids Art Gallery. The Grand Rapids Press noted that "he was a sensation throughout Western Michigan, his paintings of the New Orleans Bayou country displaying an exaggerated body flow and action" that was impressive. Over the next several years Brown was commissioned to paint portraits of some of Western Michigan's most prominent citizens. When the market for fine art cooled in the early 50's, Brown began working commercially with the Guild Artists, a group under contract with the Bell Telephone System to do Yellow Pages illustrations. It was at this time he began his lifelong personal friendship and professional collaboration with an extremely talented neighborhood kid who he brought into the Guild - Paul Collins. In 1956, with cancellation of the Bell Telephone contract, Randy and Paul formed RAN-COL Associates, a highly sought after commercial art and sign-painting concern which provided services to Grand Rapids' largest businesses, including Amway, Meijer, Steelcase, Herman Miller, and Stow-Davis.

During this period, Randy also provided fatherly support and management guidance to heavyweight fighter Buster Mathis, who worked with RAN-COL and who knew Randy as a child. The flourishing commercial art business dissolved in 1969, when Collins started a career as an international fine artist with a trip to Senegal, West Africa. During the early 70's, while continuing his commercial art business as Rand of Grand Rapids, Brown indulged his interest in youth education and empowerment by teaching black history at Grand Valley State College for two years and conducting several art workshops at both Grand Valley and Western Michigan University.

Brown also entered a prolific period as a poet, focusing early works on black history, civil rights and empowerment. By 1976, the Grand Rapids Press identified Brown as a recognized poet throughout Michigan who has given readings at every major college in the state. During the 70's, Brown was commissioned by the University of Michigan to do a mural of social activist Angela Davis for a room on campus named in her honor. Brown also was commissioned by the City of Grand Rapids to reproduce an award-winning child painting on the Downtown Federal Square Building, and by William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company to cover its building with a mural depicting the importance of knowledge.

In 1984, Brown received the Ethel Coe Humanities Award as a "Giant" of the African-American Community from the Grand Rapids Press and Grand Rapids Community Colleges. Brown continued noteworthy commercial art work into the 90's, including murals for the Grand Rapids Transit Authority "Gus Buses" and the WLAV "Rocker" Bus, as well as poetry focusing on international concerns in Israel, Japan and Bosnia. From 1972 until after the turn of the century, Brown reached out to hundreds of children, through multiple generations. To this day, he is known to many as the "Tootsie Roll Man" for the kernels of life wisdom he distributed along with pieces of candy to community children passing by his home in the neighborhood near MLK Park.

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Vintage African American Black Universities New Orleans La Alumni 1950 R Brown