MS01.01.03.B02.F23.076
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Harmon Foundation
Page #8
dramatic photography and illustrated text, and, to espouse Christian principles as the ideal way to achieve the desired balance between material and spiritual gains. In spite of the fact that the four pictures the Foundation made were modestly priced, the project was not a success. The films were criticized as being too literal in their effort to interpret a broad biblical Christian ethic and were said to fall prey too often to the spectacle of Hollywood drama moved east. Blacks who saw the films criticized them for their narrow interpretations of the bible, while concentrating mainly on European images with little or no reference to Christians of African descent.
The Division of Awards for Constructive and Creative Achievement, established in 1925, was initially an experimental program undertaken by Brady. Its purpose was to stimulate worthwhile progress in the fields of art, industry, social and philanthropic endeavors. Awards were given for progress in adjustment among the blind; to farm wives for home improvements: to Eagle Scouts for scholarships insignias of heroism; to cartoonists for outstanding drawings related to public welfare problems and to authors for articles published pertaining to civic and social welfare. #12 One of the most interesting components of the Awards Division and perhaps one of the most beneficial programs for Black visual artists was the group of seven awards for Distinguished Achievement Among Negroes. #13 An eighth award was offered to the Black or White American whose work showed "itself to be a forward step in improving the relations between the two races". #14
In 1926, guided by the thinking of Alain Leroy Locke, the nation's first Black Rhodes Scholar, and George Edmond Hayes, Secretary of the Federal Council of the Churches of Christ in America, the Foundation shifted its main emphasis from activities related to human welfare and student loans toward funding black artists
Mary B Brady seldom used the word Negro to designate members of Black race. She disliked the use of the word and condemned those who used Colored or Black. She prefered to use the term Americans of African descent and as recent as June 5 1981 in a conversation with this writer in her home in Putnam County NY, reemphasized her opposition to the accepted use of Negro, colored or Black. In many ways, she always seemed forward looking in her views on race.
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