Maitland and African American Experiences

J. André Smith, Churchgoers, Eatonville, oil on Masonite, ca. 1940, 35 ¼ x 29 ¼, Collection of Art & History Museums–Maitland, CM72.02.09

The Art & History Museums–Maitland opens two exhibitions highlighting resident African American experiences and the intertwined histories of Maitland and Eatonville: Maitland and African American Experiences Then & Now: J. André Smith and Jane Turner at the Maitland Art Center, and Maitland and African American Experiences: Marked, Unmarked, Remembered at the Maitland Historical Museum.

J. André Smith and Jane Turner features oil paintings, watercolors, and drawings by J. André Smith and two “Bok Fellows,” Carlson Davenport and H. H. Shaw, along with acrylic paintings and sculptural works by the self-taught artist, Jane Turner, residing and working in both Maitland and Eatonville. While the works created by Smith and his contemporaries portray images of African Americans from the point of view of outsiders, Turner’s portraits and works inspired by historical events and figures counter them by offering glimpses of her rich, multifaceted experience as a community member.

African Americans have lived and worked in Maitland and its neighboring communities for nearly 150 years, yet this historic black presence is rarely acknowledged in the city’s pictorial displays, roadside markers, and civic narratives. Researched and curated by University of Central Florida historian Scot French, Marked, Unmarked, Remembered addresses that omission by examining the hidden history, culture, and experiences of African Americans across the decades—from their first arrival in Lake Maitland as pioneer homesteaders and grove workers in the 1870s, through the Jim Crow Era of segregation, exclusion and erasure, to the desegregated (yet not fully integrated) civic and commemorative landscapes of today.

Visit the Plan Your Visit page for hours & pricing.  Admission includes entry to Maitland Art Center, Maitland Historical Museum and the Telephone Museum.