American Negro Exposition
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The American Negro Exposition, also known as the Black World's Fair and the Diamond Jubilee Exposition, was a
world's fair A world's fair, also known as a universal exhibition, is a large global exhibition designed to showcase the achievements of nations. These exhibitions vary in character and are held in different parts of the world at a specific site for a perio ...
held in
Chicago Chicago is the List of municipalities in Illinois, most populous city in the U.S. state of Illinois and in the Midwestern United States. With a population of 2,746,388, as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is the List of Unite ...
from July until September in 1940, to celebrate the 75th anniversary (also known as a
diamond jubilee A diamond jubilee celebrates the 60th anniversary of a significant event related to a person (e.g. accession to the throne or wedding, among others) or the 60th anniversary of an institution's founding. The term is also used for 75th annivers ...
) of the end of
slavery in the United States The legal institution of human chattel slavery, comprising the enslavement primarily of List of ethnic groups of Africa, Africans and African Americans, was prevalent in the United States of America from its founding in 1776 until 1865 ...
at the conclusion of the Civil War in 1865.


History

As a result of the discrimination towards African Americans at the 1933
Century of Progress Exposition A Century of Progress International Exposition, also known as the Chicago World's Fair, was a world's fair held in the city of Chicago, Illinois, United States, from 1933 to 1934. The fair, registered under the Bureau International des Exposit ...
, James Washington, a real estate developer, conceived of the American Negro Exposition. On July 4, 1940, President
Franklin Delano Roosevelt Franklin Delano Roosevelt (January 30, 1882April 12, 1945), also known as FDR, was the 32nd president of the United States, serving from 1933 until his death in 1945. He is the longest-serving U.S. president, and the only one to have served ...
, 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 The mayor of Chicago is the chief executive of city government in Chicago, Illinois, the third-largest city in the United States. The mayor is responsible for the administration and management of various city departments, submits proposals and ...
Edward Joseph Kelly as well as
Postmaster General A Postmaster General, in Anglosphere countries, is the chief executive officer of the postal service of that country, a ministerial office responsible for overseeing all other postmasters. History The practice of having a government official ...
James A. Farley. The exposition was held at the
Chicago Coliseum Chicago Coliseum was the name applied to three large indoor arenas, which stood at various times in Chicago, Illinois, from the 1860s to 1982. They served as venues for large national conventions, exhibition halls, sports events, and entertai ...
, 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 The Illinois General Assembly is the legislature of the U.S. state of Illinois. It has two chambers, the Illinois House of Representatives and the Illinois Senate. The General Assembly was created by the first state constitution adopted in ...
.
Truman Gibson Truman Kella Gibson, Jr. (January 22, 1912 – December 23, 2005) was an African-American businessman, attorney, government advisor, and later influential boxing promoter who played a unique and unheralded role in the Civil Rights Movement, pr ...
, a member of Roosevelt's "
Black Cabinet The Black Cabinet was an unofficial group of African-American advisors to President Franklin D. Roosevelt. African-American federal employees in the executive branch formed an unofficial Federal Council of Negro Affairs to try to influence federal ...
", served as executive director for the fair.


Exhibits

Entrance was 25 cents and the organizers expected 2 million people to attend. The art exhibit, which was curated by Alonzo J. Aden, Exhibition of the Art of the American Negro (1851 to 1940). Assembled by American Negro Exposition. On View July 4 to September 2, 1940. Tanner Art Galleries. American Negro Exposition. Chicago, Illinois. Catalogue. https://static1.squarespace.com/static/57d0b692bebafbc121224aea/t/58cdfb28893fc0946587e55e/1489894212048/exhibition1940.pdf comprised 300 paintings and drawings and was called by ''
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'' as "the largest showing of the work of Negro artists ever assembled." Additionally, there was a Hall of Fame honoring notable African Americans. Artist William Edouard Scott created a series of 24 murals for the event, which took him three months to complete. Black Mexican artist Elizabeth Catlett's master thesis, the limestone sculpture "Negro Mother and Child" won first place in the exposition.
Margaret Walker Margaret Walker (Margaret Abigail Walker Alexander by marriage; July 7, 1915 – November 30, 1998) was an American poet and writer. She was part of the African-American literary movement in Chicago, known as the Chicago Black Renaissance. ...
entered a literary competition with the following verses:
Arna Bontemps Arna Wendell Bontemps ( ) (October 13, 1902 – June 4, 1973) was an American poet, novelist and librarian, and a noted member of the Harlem Renaissance. Early life Bontemps was born in 1902 in Alexandria, Louisiana, into a Louisiana Creole peopl ...
and
Langston Hughes James Mercer Langston Hughes (February 1, 1901 – May 22, 1967) was an American poet, social activist, novelist, playwright, and columnist from Joplin, Missouri. An early innovator of jazz poetry, Hughes is best known as a leader of the Harl ...
co-wrote a musical titled ''Jubilee: Cavalcade of the Negro Theater'' specifically for the exposition. 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''. Other musical segments were a performance by
Duke Ellington Edward Kennedy "Duke" Ellington (April 29, 1899 – May 24, 1974) was an American Jazz piano, jazz pianist, composer, and leader of his eponymous Big band, jazz orchestra from 1924 through the rest of his life. Born and raised in Washington, D ...
and his orchestra, as well as a swing performance of '' The Chimes of Normandy''.


Participants


Organizations


Businesses


Dioramas

The exhibit had 33 five-feet wide
dioramas A diorama is a replica of a scene, typically a three-dimensional model either full-sized or miniature. Sometimes dioramas are enclosed in a glass showcase at a museum. Dioramas are often built by hobbyists as part of related hobbies like Model ...
held in the "Court of Dioramas" hall, they were made from wood, plaster and
masonite Masonite board Back side of a masonite board Isorel, Quartrboard, Masonite Corporation, Masonite, also called Quartboard or pressboard, is a type of engineered wood made of steam-cooked and pressure-molded wood or paper fibers. The fibers ...
, showcasing African-American contributions and events of historical significance, ranging from
ancient Egypt Ancient Egypt () was a cradle of civilization concentrated along the lower reaches of the Nile River in Northeast Africa. It emerged from prehistoric Egypt around 3150BC (according to conventional Egyptian chronology), when Upper and Lower E ...
through
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. Commercial artist Charles C. Dawson directed the creation of the dioramas. 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. A list of the dioramas in the names at the time of showing, included: Of the original 33 dioramas, 13 were lost, and
Tuskegee University Tuskegee University (Tuskegee or TU; formerly known as the Tuskegee Institute) is a private, historically black land-grant university in Tuskegee, Alabama, United States. It was founded as a normal school for teachers on July 4, 1881, by the ...
, through Dawson, an alumni who was started teaching at the institution, acquired the remaining 20 dioramas from the
State of Illinois Illinois ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern United States. It borders on Lake Michigan to its northeast, the Mississippi River to its west, and the Wabash River, Wabash and Ohio River, Ohio rivers to its ...
. They were placed at the University's former
George Washington Carver Museum The George Washington Carver Museum may refer to several different things. These include: *The George Washington Carver Museum in Tuskegee, Alabama, founded in 1941 by George Washington Carver *George Washington Carver Museum and Cultural Center i ...
, then moved to the main library. Due to their state of disrepair, they had arrived at Tuskegee at "60% destroyed", they were stored away from public view for decades. Tuskegee's Legacy Museum set up a new exhibit, ''20 Dioramas: Brightly-Lit Windows, Magically Different'', using the 20 dioramas to "demonstrate the rich past of African-Americans". The museum curator, Dr. Jontyle Robinson, used the conservation work to "improve diversity in the field of conservation", since " ly 1 to 2% of conservators are African American." Restoring a single diorama costs between $25,000 to $30,000 in 2018. ''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.


Legacy

In 2015, the African American Cultural Center of the
University of Illinois at Chicago The University of Illinois Chicago (UIC) is a public research university in Chicago, Illinois, United States. Its campus is in the Near West Side community area, adjacent to the Chicago Loop. The second campus established under the Universi ...
curated an exhibition of the Exposition "showcas ng..objects, images and texts from the landmark...Exposition."


See also

* The Exhibit of American Negroes-sociological display within the Palace of Social Economy at the 1900 World's Fair in
Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...
.


References


Notes

: 1.Not including the 230 " Negro Newspapers".


External links

* Official program and guidebook - hosted by the
Internet Archive The Internet Archive is an American 501(c)(3) organization, non-profit organization founded in 1996 by Brewster Kahle that runs a digital library website, archive.org. It provides free access to collections of digitized media including web ...
.
Cavalcade of the American Negro
Information hosted by the
Library of Congress The Library of Congress (LOC) is a research library in Washington, D.C., serving as the library and research service for the United States Congress and the ''de facto'' national library of the United States. It also administers Copyright law o ...
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." {{African-American Festivals, state=collapsed 1940 festivals 1940 in Illinois African-American festivals African-American history between emancipation and the civil rights movement World's fairs in Chicago American Civil War anniversaries African-American history in Chicago