Hardship to Hope: African American Art from the Karamu Workshop

In 1910, amid segregation, race riots and great social change, Russell Jelliffe and Rowena Woodham met at Oberlin College. She was president of the Oberlin Women’s Suffrage League; he had seen a black friend turned away from the YMCA as a boy. They bonded through a shared belief that race didn’t have to be a destructive, divisive force. After marriage in 1915, they were invited to Cleveland by the Men’s Club of the Second Presbyterian Church to organize a settlement house, and moved to Cleveland’s “Roaring Third” Ward. This potent team shared the belief that they could effect positive change by bringing together blacks and whites to work together on something of need to the community.

In this spirit, they founded the Playhouse Settlement, later renamed Karamu House, a multiracial gathering place where community members explored the performing and fine arts. In a 1989 interview, Rowena described their concept – “People, from the beginning of time, seem to have understood each other best when they shared their culture.”

A group of talented African-American artists, trained at Karamu during this time, gained recognition both in the city and across the nation for their vibrant and dramatic artworks that depicted the truths about life in Cleveland during the Great Depression. The Jelliffes themselves gathered a dynamic collection of prints, drawings and paintings, given to Cleveland State University after their deaths.

This important and powerful collection, a window to a turbulent and creative time in American history, will be displayed at the Maltz Museum of Jewish Heritage, in cooperation with Cleveland State University, mid-September through December 2011. Artists represented in the exhibition are Richard R. Beatty, Elmer W. Brown, Fred Carlo, Zell Ingram, Charles L. Sallée Jr., Hughie Lee-Smith, William E. Smith and Curtis E. Tann.

Maltz Museum of Jewish Heritage
2929 Richmond Road
Beachwood, Ohio 44122

http://www.maltzmuseum.org/happenings/special-exhibitions/hardship-to-hope/