American Negro Exposition

As a result of the discrimination towards African Americans at the 1933 Century of Progress Exposition, James Washington, a real estate developer, conceived of the American Negro Exposition.[2]

On July 4, 1940, President Franklin Delano Roosevelt, from his Hyde Park home, pressed a button to turn on the lights, officially opening the American Negro Exposition. The main speakers on the opening day were Chicago mayor Edward Joseph Kelly as well as Postmaster General James A. Farley.[3] The exposition was held at the Chicago Coliseum, with 120 exhibits on display. The exposition was organized by James W. Washington, as president, and was funded through two $75,000 ($1.37 million in 2020) grants from Congress and the Illinois General Assembly.[4][2] Truman Gibson, a member of Roosevelt's "Black Cabinet", served as executive director for the fair.

Entrance was 25 cents and the organizers expected 2 million people to attend.[2] The art exhibit comprised 300 paintings and drawings and was called by The New York Times as "the largest showing of the work of Negro artists ever assembled."[4]

The exposition is dominated by a replica of the Lincoln Tomb and Monument in Springfield, Ill. Exhibits include representation from most of the Federal departments and agencies, the city, the Board of Education and the Republic of Liberia. One section features the work of Negro authors...Almost every day until closing time on Labor Day, Sept. 2, has been set aside to honor some State, organization, or Negro.

— The New York Times

Additionally, there was a Hall of Fame honoring notable African Americans.[1] Artist William Edouard Scott created a series of 24 murals for the event, which took him three months to complete.[5][6][7] Black Mexican artist Elizabeth Catlett's master thesis, the limestone sculpture "Negro Mother and Child" won first place in the exposition.[8]

Margaret Walker entered a literary competition with the following verses:[2]

Come now my brothers and citizens of America

and hear the strange singing of me, your brother,
and see the strange dancing of me, your daughter,
and know that I am you and you are me
and the two are as one in danger and in peace,
in plenty and in poverty,
in freedom forever,
in power, and glory and triumph.
I ask you, America,
is this not signing witness in your soul?
Who are you to deny me the right
to cast my vote in the streets of America
in the Senate halls of America?
Who are you to deny the right to speak?
I who am myself also America.
I who cleared your forests
and laid your thoroughfares.
Who are you to be presumptuous
to tell me where to ride,
and where to stand,
and where to sit?
Who are you to lynch the flesh of your flesh?
Who are you to say who shall live
and who shall die?
Who are you to tell me where to eat
and where to sleep?

Who are you America but Me?

— Margaret Walker

Arna Bontemps and Langston Hughes co-wrote a musical titled Jubilee: Cavalcade of the Negro Theater specifically for the exposition.[9] Bontemps, the poet Fenton Johnson, and several others working under the auspices of the Illinois Writers' Project, produced a commemorative 96-page African-American history book called Cavalcade of the American Negro.[10]

Other musical segments were a performance by Duke Ellington and his orchestra, as well as a swing performance of The Chimes of Normandy.[11]

The exhibit had 33 five-feet wide dioramas held in the "Court of Dioramas" hall, they were made from wood, plaster and masonite, showcasing African American contributions and events of historical significance, ranging from ancient Egypt through World War I.[12] Commercial artist Charles C. Dawson directed the creation of the dioramas.[1] The temporary exhibit was only on display for the roughly two months the exhibition ran and inspired local teachers in improving teaching African American history.[13]

A list of the dioramas in the names at the time of showing, included:[14]

Of the original 33 dioramas, 13 of them were lost and Tuskegee University, through Dawson, an alumni who was started teaching at the institution, acquired the remaining 20 dioramas from the State of Illinois.[13] They were placed at the University's old George Washington Carver Museum, then moved to the main library. Due to their state of disrepair, they had arrived at Tuskegee at "60% destroyed",[13] they were stored away from public view for decades.[12]

Tuskegee's Legacy Museum set up a new exhibit, "20 Dioramas: Brightly-Lit Windows, Magically Different", using the twenty dioramas to "demonstrate the rich past of African-Americans".[15] The museum curator, Dr. Jontyle Robinson, used the conservation work to "improve diversity in the field of conservation", since "[o]nly 1 to 2% of conservators are African American."[13][15] Restoring a single diorama costs between $25,000 to $30,000 in 2018.[15]

External video
You may view the CBS Sunday Morning story on YouTube

CBS Sunday Morning correspondent Rita Braver did a story on the dioramas, with the intention of bringing awareness and hope that the segment would help in unearthing the lost 13.[1]

In 2015, the African American Cultural Center of the University of Illinois at Chicago curated an exhibition of the Exposition "showcas[ing]...objects, images and texts from the landmark...Exposition."[16]

• The Exhibit of American Negroes-sociological display within the Palace of Social Economy at the 1900 World's Fair in Paris.

• Official program and guidebook - hosted by the Internet Archive.
• Cavalcade of the American Negro-Information hosted by the Library of Congress on a book of the same name produced by the Illinois Writers' Project of the WPA, which became "one of the more important contributions" and "includes a useful description of all the exhibits at the exposition."