Hale Woodruff is regarded as one of the most important African American artists of the 20th century. His best-known works are six very large murals painted for the Talladega College library in the 1930s. The murals show the path of progress from black slavery to freedom. After hanging in the Talladega College library for decades, the murals were recently restored, and have been on a national tour since 2012. Woodruff’s famous murals are now making a homecoming of sorts. An exhibition of the murals, along with early works from Woodruff’s career, opens this Saturday at the Birmingham Museum of Art. WBHM took a tour of the show this week with curators Kelli Morgan and Graham Boettcher.
Rachel Osier Lindley,WBHM
Curator Graham Boettcher stands with Hale Woodruff’s “The Trial of the Amistad Captives,” from the collection of Savery Library at Talladega College. Rachel Osier Lindley / WBHM