By Tranae Chatman
Inspired by the work of Booker T. Washington, Julius Rosenwald established the Julius Rosenwald Fund in 1917 for “the well-being of mankind.” Over the next 30 years, the fund would make financial contributions to support Black education, particularly in the South. In addition to thousands of rural schoolhouses built, the Rosenwald fund began to offer fellowships in 1929 to “individuals of exceptional promise.”[1] These fellowships helped to support a generation of Black leaders in Tennessee, including renowned sociologist and Fisk professor Charles S. Johnson (1893-1956), author and Fisk librarian Arna Bontemps (1902-1973), and Tennessee State University art educator Frances Euphemia Thompson (C.1900-1992).
Frances Euphemia Thompson, Tennessee Agricultural and Industrial State University, “The Tennessean 1955” (1955). Tennessee State University Yearbooks. 14. https://digitalscholarship.tnstate.edu/yearbooks/14
Agricultural and Industrial State Teacher College, 1930-1935, Tennessee State Museum, 95.19.65
Thompson’s life and legacy provides an example of what the fellowship qualified as an “individual of exceptional promise.” Born in Springhill, Tennessee around 1900, Thompson attended Tennessee Agricultural and Industrial Normal School, formerly Tennessee A&I and now Tennessee State University. It was there that art professor Olive Giovanne Talieaferro noticed Thompson’s potential as an artist. Talieaferro, a Massachusetts School of Art graduate, encouraged Thompson to attend her alma mater and sponsored her education. During her time in Massachusetts, Thompson designed the Tennessee A&I school seal, which is still in use today. [2] She was later awarded a Rosenwald fellowship in 1936 to study folk art at Charles University in Prague, Czechoslovakia. The fellowship aided her in her study of Czech art forms and provided her with opportunities to lecture on art education and expose European audiences to African American folk songs and spirituals.
Tennessee State University Yearbook with seal designed by Frances E. Thompson, 1964, Tennessee State Museum, 2008.242.1
After returning to America, Thompson developed her own art education methodology, Art in Elementary Schools, A Manual for Teachers. The textbook was published by the Tennessee State Department of Education in 1943 and helped to further scholarship on art education for rural Black students in Tennessee. Her own artwork was showcased at Harvard University and Massachusetts School of Art, which later dedicated a gallery and scholarship in her honor. [3] Although she worked with a variety of media, one of her most enduring legacies was in designing baptistry murals for Black churches. Thompson was commissioned to design these murals for several churches in Nashville, including the historic First Baptist Church of East Nashville which houses three of her murals today.
Poster for Ted Jones Exhibit at Tennessee State University, Tennessee State Museum, 2007.208.64
Thompson spent most of her career as an art professor and director of the art department at Tennessee State University (TSU). Her talent as an art educator helped to set a high standard for the TSU art department. Today, the art department continues the legacy of producing talented contemporary Black artists and art educators including Ted Jones, Michael McBride, Greg Ridley, and Omari Booker, all of whom are represented in the collection of the Tennessee State Museum.
‘Jonah and The Big Fish’ by Ted Jones, 1999, Tennessee State Museum, 2001.121.14
‘Tuzar (The Pyramid)’ by Greg Ridley, Tennessee State Museum, 2004.168.1
The Rosenwald Fund’s investment into Black education planted the roots for a long legacy of Black achievement. However, without the commitment of the leaders and communities that paid this kindness forward, the mission of the fund to support the “well-being of mankind” might not have ever been realized. The Tennessee State Museum’s exhibit, Building A Bright Future: Black Communities and Rosenwald Schools in Tennessee, which closed on February 25, highlighted stories of Tennesseans like Frances E. Thompson who benefited from Rosenwald Fund programs and capitalized on the opportunity to uplift those around them.
Tranae Chatman is the Tennessee State Museum Curator of Social History.