Professor brings American history into view through art
Tracey Johnson, assistant professor of history and African American studies and a Willson Center associate academic director, is the subject of an in-depth profile recently published by the Franklin College of Arts and Sciences. Johnson’s research explores the roles art and museums can play in liberation movements, and how “art as an educational tool influences culture and history.”
Johnson’s work on her forthcoming book Black Arts Democracy: How Art Education Advanced Black New York, 1929-1993 was supported by a 2023-2024 Willson Center Faculty Research Fellowship. From Alan Flurry’s article:
“It’s focused on Black artists in New York City after the Harlem Renaissance using art as a vehicle towards Black liberation,” she said. “Not just the aesthetic principles or benefits, which are obviously really important, but how they used visual art as a way to fill in for the failures of the state when it comes to Black people in Harlem at this time, as a means of education, therapy, job training, and many other things.”
Read the full article here.