Introduction
The Florida Highwaymen were a group of 26 African American landscape painters. They created over 200,000 regional landscape paintings from the mid-1950’s through the 1980’s. Self-taught artists who mentored each other, they were mainly from the Ft. Pierce area of Florida. During the years of racial tension in America and social environment of the Jim Crow south, their work was excluded from art shows and galleries. They sold their paintings in towns and cities, door-to-door and from their car trunks, along the Florida highways. Rather than using traditional materials, they painted on objects such as Masonite, often selling their paintings before the oil was dry on them. The works of the earliest and original Florida Highwaymen members, are considered the most valuable. The paintings sold then for about $20. Now the paintings have sold for as much as $18,000. The Florida Highwaymen are considered to be an important part of American folk history.
The Following is a list of the 26 Highwaymen in alphabetical order. * Deceased
The Following is a list of the 26 Highwaymen in alphabetical order. * Deceased
Curtis Arnett
Hezekiah Baker* Al Black Ellis Buckner* George Buckner* Robert Butler Mary Ann Carroll Johnny Daniels* Willie Daniels Rodney Demps James Gibson Alfred Hair* Issac Knight |
Robert L. Lewis
John Maynor Roy McLendon Alfonso Moran* Harold Newton* Lemuel Newton Sam Newton Livingston Roberts* Willie Reagan Cornell Smith Charles Walker Sylvester M. Wells Charles Wheeler |
Audience
The target audience of this pathfinder is undergraduate college students seeking an Associates or Bachelor’s degree. The broad topic of Art, and the narrower focus of the Florida Highwaymen, might be used in an Art, History, or Art History course. This pathfinder is a guide to find information sources available through the University of South Florida, both online and print.