Aaron Douglas has often been affectionately referred to as, "the father of African American art." Because of his beautiful paintings and illustrations and the large influential role he played in the Harlem Renaissance.
After earning a bachelor's degree from the university of Nebraska in 1922, Douglas returned to his birth place of Kansas where he started his career as an art teacher. This didn't last long because in 1995 he moved to New York to join the uprising art scene in Harlem. He started his Harlem career by making illustrations for magazines which lead him to his first major commission, illustrating Alaine Locke's book, The New Negro. This quickly lead him to requests for graphics by other writers like, Langston Hughes and Wallace Thurman.
Douglas went on to make many beautiful paintings and murals that were influenced by African American life. He did pieces representing African American Struggle, and he did pieces representing African American pride. He was a great man, a great painter and his art will live on forever.
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