William E. Harmon Foundation Award for Distinguished Achievement Among Negroes
The William E. Harmon Foundation Award for Distinguished Achievement Among Negroes, commonly referred to as the Harmon Award or Harmon Foundation Award, was a philanthropic and cultural award created in 1926 by William E. Harmon[1] and administered by the Harmon Foundation. It was offered for distinguished achievements in eight different fields: literature, music, fine arts, business and industry (such as banker Anthony Overton in 1927), science and innovation, education (for example, educator Janie Porter Barrett in 1929), religious service, and race relations.
Although awards were created in eight categories, it is best known for its impact on African-American art of the Harlem Renaissance, and particularly on the visual arts. During its existence the Harmon award was largely considered synonymous with Negro visual art:
...the introduction of the Harmon foundation awards in 1926, which were always dispensed with a flurry of publicity, marked the beginning of a new era for Negro visual art. With its private endowment, popular social mission, and interracial alliances, [it] possessed a much greater public relations capacity than any other prior initiatives....Due in large part to the activities of the Harmon Foundation, African Americans emerged as a distinct presence in the American art world.[2]
The awards were closely associated with an annual Exhibition of the Work of Negro Artists, conceived by Mary Brady. Exhibitions were held in 1927 through 1931, 1933, and 1935, and featured "substantial prizes" together with gold and bronze medals.[3] According to Gates and Higginbotham, "...submissions in the fine arts category was the chief venue open to African American artists"[1]
Awards were given solely on the basis of achievements in the previous year.[4] The first year the awards were granted (1926) the judges of the awards proposed giving Gold award for literature to Charles W. Chesnutt, "...to acknowledge his pioneering work and continuing example to other African American writers". Their intention was to waive the requirement that the award be granted solely for works completed during the previous year. However, the Harmon Foundation did not accept this proposal, and Chesnutt never learned of this "acknowledgment of high esteem from a distinguished panel of his literary peers both black and white."[5]
Recipients of the award in every field except race relations were required to be African American[6] – the latter could be awarded to "...any person of American residence, regardless of color, who has made an outstanding contribution toward improving relations between the white and Negro people in America."[7] Thus Robert Russa Moton was the first African American to receive the race relations award (in 1930). He was preceded by Will W. Alexander in 1927, and a dual award to Julius Rosenwald and James Hardy Dillard in 1927, all of whom who were Caucasian.[8][9]
Gold and Bronze medals were awarded in the various categories. The Gold carried a $400 cash prize (adjusted for inflation, the 1926 prize would be worth $6,884.21 in the US dollars of 2025; the 1933 prize $9,414.91); the Bronze prize was $100. The award for race relations had a much larger honorarium: it varied between $500 and $1,000.
A description of the Bronze medal won by A.M.E. Bishop John Hurst in 1926 appeared in the January 8, 1927, edition of the Baltimore, Maryland Afro-American:
The medal is of unusually beautiful design. On the obverse side is embossed a ship in full sail on the open sea with the inscription "Harmon Foundation" around the margin. On the reverse side are the words "Inspiration, Achievement Religious Service. Second award, 1926, John Hurst".[10]
Administered during its first five years (1926–33) by Dr. George E. Haynes,[11] the awards program was discontinued in 1933, which would have been the year of the 1932 awards. However, no awards had been granted in the previous year. A New York Times article in 1931 described the race relation category of the awards as "biennial".
for research in electrical engineering,[21] for "two theses in regenerative circuits in radio, submitted for the bachelor's and master's degrees in engineering."[22]
Second Award
Bronze Medal
W. A. Daniel
for his social study on "The Education of Negro Ministers."[23]
Though Work and Guzman scrupulously document the cash awards received, no mention of a cash award is made for Scott. His was a "special award of a gold medal", falling outside of the normal scope for the award: "... because of the finished and excellent character of his paintings and the recognition already received. Mr. Scott was considered by the judges to be outside the purpose of the awards but deserving of distinction."[25]
Brawley declined the award:[28] "... a well-known educator and writer, Brawley declined the second-place award because, he said, he had never done anything but first-class work."[29]
advances made with rust-resistant or non-corrosive metals:[32] James Parsons, Jr., a metallurgist, winner of the Harmon Award in Science [in] 1927.. for many years been in charge of research and production for the Duriron Company of Dayton, Ohio. He ... holds many patents in a highly competitive field and has opened new avenues for our men"[33]
^"Judges selected for Negro awards: Leaders in all branches will bestow second annual Harmon Prizes" (July 5, 1927). New York Times, p. 13.
^"Wilbur to present award to Moton: Tuskegee Head Will Get Harmon Medal for Negro Racial Relations Work Tuesday" (April 18, 1930). New York Times, p. 31.
^ ab"Dr. Moton receives $1,000 Harmon Award" (January 6, 1930). The New York Times, p. 20.
^ ab"Two to be honored for aid to Negroes: Rosenwald and Dr. Dillard to Get Harmon Awards on Racial Relations" (January 23, 1928), The New York Times, p. 25.
^"Two get Harmon Awards: R.C. Patterson, for Walker, Presents Music Prizes to Negroes" (February 13, 1928), The New York Times, p. 21.
^"DR. MOTON RECEIVES $1,000 HARMON AWARD: Negro Educator Is First of His Race to Achieve This Honor-- Work of 22 Others Recognized". New York Times. (Winners, categories and awards for 1929 are compiled from this article.). New York, N.Y. 6 Jan 1930. p. 20.{{cite news}}: CS1 maint: others (link)
^Exhibit of Fine Arts by American Negro Artists: Presented by the Harmon Foundation and the Commission on Race Relations, Federal Council of Churches, at the International House, New York City. New York, NY: Harmon Foundation. 1928.
^Catalogue of an Exhibition of Paintings and Sculpture by American Negro Artists at the National Gallery of Art,. Smithsonian Institution Archives Record Unit 311, National Collection of Fine Arts, SIA-SIA2016-011412.: Harmon Foundation. 1929.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location (link)
^Exhibit of Fine Arts by American Negro Artists: Presented by the Harmon Foundation and the Commission on Race Relations, Federal Council of Churches, at the International House, New York City. New York, NY: Harmon Foundation. 1930. pp. 16p.
^Exhibition of Productions by Negro Artists, 1933. New York, NY: Harmon Foundation. 1933.
Further reading
Armstrong, Samuel Chapman (1931). The Southern Workman, Volume 60.
Barksdale, Richard Kenneth (1992). Praisesong of Survival: lectures and essays, 1957–89. University of Illinois Press. ISBN0-252-06286-8; ISBN978-0252062865
Brawley, Benjamin Griffith (1966). The Negro Genius: a new appraisal of the achievement of the American Negro in Literature and the Fine Arts. Biblo-Moser. ISBN0-8196-0184-5; ISBN978-0819601841
Calo, Mary Ann (2007). Distinction and Denial: Race, Nation, and the Critical Construction of the African American Artist, 1920–40. University of Michigan Press. ISBN0-472-03230-5; ISBN978-0472032303
"Dr. Moton receives $1,000 Harmon Award" (January 6, 1930). The New York Times, p. 20.
Dykeman, Wilma (1976). Seeds of Southern Change: The Life Of Will Alexander. W. W. Norton and Company, Inc.ISBN0-393-00813-4; ISBN978-0393008135
Guzman, Jessie Parkhurst, & Lewis W. Jones (eds) (1952). Negro Year Book: A Review of Events Affecting Negro Life. WM. H. Wise & Co., Inc.
"Harmon Award Presented" (February 19, 1930). The New York Times, p. 19.
"Holsey shares Harmon Award with employees of New York office". Afro-American, Saturday, February 21, 1931, p. 1.
Johnson, Charles Spurgeon, & Carter, Elmer Anderson (1969). Opportunity: Journal of Negro Life (1969), Vols 5–6, p. 20.
Jones, Allen W. (1979). "Thomas M. Campbell: Black Agricultural Leader of the New South". Agricultural History, Vol. 53, No. 1, Southern Agriculture Since the Civil War: A Symposium, pp. 42–59.
Leininger-Miller, Theresa (2001). New Negro Artists in Paris: African American Painters and Sculptors in the City of Light, 1922–1934, Rutgers University Press. ISBN0-8135-2811-9; ISBN978-0813528113.
Wintz, Cary D., & Paul Finkelman (2004). Encyclopedia of the Harlem Renaissance. Volume 2. Taylor & Francis Group. ISBN0-203-31930-3
Woodson, C. G. (1950). Harry Thacker Burleigh. The Journal of Negro History, Vol. 35, No. 1, pp. 104–05.
Work, Monroe Nathan, & Jessie Parkhurst Guzman (1937). Negro Year Book: an annual encyclopedia of the Negro 1937–1938. Tuskegee Institute, Ala.: Negro Year Book Publishing Co.
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