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-54- Program expects to continue placing these and more Black presentors in appropriate programs in various cities in the coming years. The Associates Travel Program has recently organized an Alabama Study Tour which includes meetings with politicians, educators, artists, and members of the clergy in Montgomery, Tuskegee, Selma, Tuscaloosa, and Birmingham, and the Program is working with minority staff members to plan and market tours which would have special appeal to an Afro-American audience. National Museum of African Art The National Museum of African Art focuses on the visual traditions and cultures of Africa and, as such, has a direct historical relationship with the Afro-American community. In accordance with that mission, the Museum has and continues to acquire works of art from Africa south of the Sahara which constitute a fundamental part of the heritage of all Afro-Americans, and the Museum's collection and exhibitions represent the first opportunity for a large segment of the Afro-American community to see important examples of that heritage. All of the public programs developed by the Museum relate to the Afro-American community, although admittedly some are more popular than others. For example, a proposed exhibition devoted to the imagery associated with a Yoruba (Nigeria) deity Shango will undoubtedly be of great interest to Afro-Americans; Shango worship is well known in the Americas, and cults are thriving in several U.S. cities. But at the same time the Museum must enlighten its visitors about less well known visual traditions and cultures. National Museum of American Art The National Museum of American Art has significant holdings of works in all media by Afro-American artists which have come to the Museum in several major gifts over the last twenty years. Mixed with numerous other individual acquisitions of Afro-American art, these major gifts have included the Harmon Foundation donation of more than 1,000 works by William H. Johnson and other notable Black painters, the transfer from the National Museum of African Art of over 200 paintings by Afro-Americans, and the acquisition of the Hemphill Collection which contains folk-art pieces from twenty-five or more Black artists. Because gaps remain in the collection, the curatorial staff is in constant communication with dealers and potential donors who understand what the Museum is looking for. Afro-American artists were represented in a good number of recent exhibitions, including "Modern American Realism: The Sara Roby Collection," "American Art Deco," "Treasures from the National Museum of American Art," and "Drawings from the Collection." Visitors to the Museum are offered a free brochure on selected works by Afro-American artists for visitor who prefer a self-guided tour of the exhibitions. The Museum has recently organized two educational programs featuring Afro-American artists, Sam Gilliam and Allan Crite. To be accompanied by a comprehensive book and a variety of other educational offerings, a major exhibition entitled "William H. Johnson and Afro-America, 1938-1946" is being planned to focus on the later career of this highly significant Afro-American modernist.
