Lin Zhu — Charles Clarence Dawson

Charles Clarence Dawson was borne in Brunswick, Georgia in 1889. He is an artist and designer. Dawson studied art at the Tuskegee Institute in Alabama. After 2 years he left for New York in 1907 and became the first black student who got admitted to the Art Students League. Dawson came from a middle-class family. He worked for various jobs to attend the Art Institute of Chicago. He also involved in many organizations and also the founder of the Arts and Letters Society, which is the first black artist organization in Chicago. After his’ graduation is also a week after the U.S entered WWI. Dawson decided to serve in the army. He returned to Chicago after the war.

Photo of Charles Clarence Dawson

Dawson was a freelancer; he did some advertising illustration for major black entrepreneurs. He also drew drawings for a Chicago magazine called Reflexus (reflects us), and advertisement for Oscar Micheaux, who is a black film director. During 1920, Charles Clarence Dawson played an essential role in raising the culture and economics of blacks.

In 1924, Dawson established a black exhibiting group the Chicago Art League with other alumni of the Art Institute. He also played an important role in the New Negro Movement. The 1927 Negro in Art Week exhibition at the Art Institute of Chicago was the first exhibition showing African American art at a major museum in U.S. Dawson was also the only black artist who has a substantial role in the Century of Progress Fair during 1933–1934. Dawson also made a poster for the Pageant of Negro Music, O, Sing A New Song. In August 1934, it took place at Soldier Field as part of the Fair. Dawson also did the illustration for the National Urban League’s display in the Hall of Social Science.