Oral history interview with Margaret Taylor Burroughs, 1988 November 11-December 5

Collection Information

Size: 57 Pages, Transcript

Format: Originally recorded on 2 sound cassettes. Reformatted in 2010 as 4 digital wav files. Duration is 2 hr., 31 min.

Summary: An interview of Margaret Burroughs conducted 1988 November 11-December 5, by Anna Tyler, for the Archives of American Art African American artists in Chicago oral history project (1988-1989).

Burroughs recalls her childhood and early artistic training through her current activities. She reminisces about her experiences as a student at the School of the Chicago Art Institute, the arts in Chicago in the 1930s, the Grant Park Art Fair, Chicago Negro People's Theater, African American Visual Artists Association, Lake Meadows Art Fair, Chicago Park Board, National Conference of Negro Artists, and the South Side Community Art Center. Other topics include WPA, World War II and the McCarthy era, her sabbatical in Mexico, awards and honors, the DuSable Museum of African American History, the Emancipation Centennial Exposition and the Afro-American Visual Roundtable. She discusses her teaching career in Chicago Public Schools and at Kennedy King College. She also discusses facing racism and discrimination, her exhibitions, and the philosophy of her artwork. She reads her poem, "What Shall I Tell my Children Who are Black?" She recalls her associations with Elizabeth Catlett; Sophie Wessel; Si Gordon; Kathleen Blackshear; Charles Sebree; Charlemae Rollins; Bernard Goss, and Marion Perkins, among others.

Biographical/Historical Note

Margaret Taylor Burroughs (1917-2010) was a painter, poet, and art educator who lived and worked in Chicago, Illinois.

Provenance

This interview is part of the Archives of American Art Oral History Program, started in 1958 to document the history of the visual arts in the United States, primarily through interviews with artists, historians, dealers, critics and others.

Language Note

English .

Funding

Funding for the digital preservation of this interview was provided by a grant from the Save America's Treasures Program of the National Park Service. This interview received support from the Smithsonian American Women's History Initiative Pool.