BLACK SOCIAL HISTORY: AFRICAN AMERICAN EARLY ARTIST : THE EARLY YEARS :

With the consent of their masters some slave artisan also were able to keep wages earned in there free time and there by save enough money to purchase there families freedom. G.W. Hobbs, Patrick H. Reason, Joshua Johnson and Socipio Moorhead were among the earliest known portrait artist from the period 1773 to 1887. Patronage by some white families allowed for private tutorship in special cases. Many of these sponsoring whites were abolitionists. The artist received more encouragement and were better able to support themselves in cities of which there were more in the North and Boarder states.

Harriet Powers 1837  to  1910  was an African American Flock Artist and Quilt maker from rural Georgia, United States born into slavery. Now nationally recognized for her quilt she used traditional applique techniques to record local legends, Bible stories, and Astronomical events on her quilts. Only two of her late quilts have survived, Bible Quilt 1886  and Bible Quilt 1898. Her quilt are considered among the finest examples of the 19th century Southern Quilting.