MS01.01.03.B02.F10.003

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[crossed out: The] It is in this sense that the fine arts tradition, as we have come to recognize it, had its beginning[crossed out: s]
among Black American artists in the mid-eighteen century in the New World. This tradition
was preceded by a distinguished practice of skilled labor that produced many
of the domestic crafts that were used in American homes prior to the coming of
the industrial movement in our nation. A period of successful apprenticeship
in the crafts often served the purpose of priming one's talent in the arts of
painting, drawing and sculpture. This tradition among skilled craftsmen, [crossed out: of] which involved
a plan whereby one moved[crossed out: ing] up the scale of production from journeyman to master craftsman, and [crossed out: whereby] and [crossed out: from]
[crossed out: one finally] there entered into a particular area of the fine arts, endured well into
the later [crossed out: part] [Quarter ?] of the nineteenth century.
In many world cultures where oral, written and visual history
has recorded man's ways of making art, those forms that have
come to be called the crafts have inevitability preceeded the
fine arts of painting, sculpture and similar means of expression
in the graphic and plastic arts. That such a pattern of creative
development [crossed out: has been true] among people of African ancestry in the United
[crossed out: America] States is true is in no way an exception [crossed out: to the rule since many] to the general patterns [since many]
that creativity takes among all people regardless of
race. But written history has not favorably recorded the names of Black Americans
whose [crossed out: artistic] creative efforts were essentially productive to colonial living. More and more,
[crossed out: there exists] we have been made aware of the existence of documented evidence, provided by representative examples of craftsmanship
of the [crossed out: first order] fine quality, which prove that Black craftsmen and artisans, [crossed out: have]
since their [crossed out: re] arrival in Jamestown in 1619 have been major contributors to every stage
of this nation's cultural development. [crossed out: The] A distinct [crossed out: artistic] and humorous characteristic, [crossed out: of thorough ?] of Africanizing
[crossed out: sophisticated forms] functional objects such as: the so-called "grotesque jugs", more generally
classified as slave pottery, [crossed out: along with and handsomely] carved walking canes, that are often
decorated with the same animal and human forms [crossed out: as] like those on similar objects
in West Africa; highly stylistically patterned basketry made of raffia, and religious or voodoo objects still survive
that bear witness to the fact that certain African forms made their way into
American society during the transional period of slavery and became an
accepted part of the crafts and fine arts tradition in our nation. [footnote: 2]
Some examples
of these functional forms [rovide us with a rich [crossed out: visual] record of black achieve-

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