Newly Discovered Works by African-American Artist Are Key Part of a Traveling Exhibition Designed to Extend Education of the Jim Crow Era
NEW YORK, NY — The "Jim Crow" years undoubtedly represent one of the most painful, oppressive periods in American history. But a recently discovered collection of paintings by a self-taught, African-American artist epitomizes the tireless struggle, unyielding determination, and triumphant spirit of African-Americans who fought for dignity and equality during that era. As the primary component of a new traveling exhibition sponsored by New York Life Insurance Company entitled Rising Above Jim Crow: The Paintings of Johnnie Lee Gray, the collection offers a personal vision of the strength and creativity of African-Americans throughout the final years of segregation.
The exhibition opens in New York City on November 20, 2002, at the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture and showcases some 35 paintings by Gray. A selection of photographs and videotaped interviews that provide historical and social context for the Jim Crow period also comprise a portion of the exhibition. After the exhibition closes at the Schomburg Center on January 3, 2003, Rising Above Jim Crow will travel to The Chicago Historical Society (January 18 ? May 26, 2003), The Atlanta History Center (June 21 ? September 1, 2003), the Main Gallery, Northridge Campus, California State University (October 10 ? November 15), and The Greenville County Museum of Art, Greenville, South Carolina (January 23 ? March 21, 2004).
The exhibition complements two related programs also sponsored by New York Life: a four-part PBS series, The Rise and Fall of Jim Crow, broadcast in October and a new Web site developed for educators, www.jimcrowhistory.org 
, designed to enhance and extend the teaching of this period in U.S. history in schools nationwide. The paintings of Johnnie Lee Gray came to light through the development of the Web site when researchers were directed to Gray's widow, Mrs. Shirley Sims Gray, whose collection of her late husband's work forms the core of the new exhibition.
Most of Gray's paintings evoke his experiences as an African-American living in the Jim Crow South and into the first decades of desegregation. He painted scenes of fieldwork (recalled from childhood, when he served as a water boy during harvests), church life, night life, civil rights demonstrations, and the changing city. Among the themes of the exhibition are the strength of family; the sense of community in both rural and urban settings; the power of the African-American church; and the process of migration, both physical and spiritual, as African-Americans searched for a better way of life.
"New York Life Insurance Company is pleased to sponsor Rising Above Jim Crow: The Paintings of Johnnie Lee Gray as part of our ongoing commitment to educational initiatives in the communities where we do business," said Sy Sternberg, Chairman of the Board, President, and Chief Executive Officer. "Those who lived during the Jim Crow era were not the only persons affected by it. This chapter of American history directly influenced art, literature, music, and popular culture. Our sponsorship of this exhibition, of the landmark television event The Rise and Fall of Jim Crow, and of the educator's Web site www.jimcrowhistory.org , will create the opportunity to reflect on the past, to better understand the present, and to shape the future."
Rising Above Jim Crow: The Paintings of Johnnie Lee Gray is curated by Dr. Gwendolyn H. Everett, a former staff member of the Smithsonian American Art Museum and author of the award-winning children's book Li'l Sis and Uncle Willie. Dr. Everett currently teaches art history at Howard University. Written materials for the exhibition were created by Dr. Everett and Dr. Todd Steven Burroughs, a former national correspondent and news editor of the NNPA News Service, who has written for publications including The Source, The Crisis, Africana.com, The Amsterdam News (New York), and the Newark Star-Ledger.
About the Artist
Raised in a sharecropper family, Johnnie Lee Gray (1941-2000) attended the segregated black high school for Spartanburg County, South Carolina, then served in the Army for seven years, including a tour of duty in Vietnam. Although he worked in the textile mills after returning home and later became a carpenter, he always viewed himself as an artist, having drawn since childhood. In 1978, he met and married Shirley Sims and began to paint for the first time. From then until his death in 2000 at age 58, he completed approximately 150 paintings.
About New York Life
New York Life Insurance Company, a Fortune 100 company, is the largest mutual life insurance company in the United States and one of the largest life insurers in the world. Founded in 1845 and headquartered in New York City, New York Life and its affiliates offer life insurance, annuities and long-term care insurance. New York Life Investment Management, LLC, a New York Life affiliate, provides institutional asset management, retirement plan and trust services. Other New York Life affiliates provide an array of securities products and services, as well as institutional and retail mutual funds.
New York Life has a history of support for public television, including The American President series that aired on PBS in 2000.
Contacts:
Latraviette D. Smith
Edelman
(212) 704-8298
Latraviette.Smith@edelman.com
Karen Finkston Payes
New York Life
(212) 576-5624
Karen_Payes@newyorklife.com
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