Join Stephenie Frasher, lead docent at the Arts Advocates Gallery, for an in depth look at Alfred Hair, Al Black, Rodney Demps, James Gibson, John Maynor, and Sam Newton – six of the Original Florida Highwaymen. This art talk features video clips of the artists demonstrating their painting style and discussing their personal tales of being part of the Highwaymen.

The Highwaymen were not a formal movement and represented no official group, yet the Highwaymen thrived as artists and entrepreneurs through their sheer determination to succeed as painters. Unable to sell their works in galleries, they sold their paintings from the trunks of their cars along Highway A1A on the east coast of Florida. Their story is one of African Americans who carved out unique economic opportunities despite the social conditions of the Jim Crow South.

In 2004, the 26 Florida Highwaymen artists were inducted into the Florida Artists Hall of Fame. There were 25 men and one woman who began painting in the mid-1950s. These self-taught artists share the Hall of Fame limelight with Ernest Hemingway, John Ringling, Tennessee Williams, Ray Charles, and Jimmy Buffett.

Maria Cecilia Conder and her husband Richard donated five of the works and Maria Cecilia was instrumental in acquiring the donation of the sixth Highwaymen painting from Roger Lightle of Highwaymen Art Specialists. 

Pictured: Royal Poinciana Tree Along the St. Lucie River by Al Black.