Viewing page 19 of 58

This transcription has been completed. Contact us with corrections.

Africans Americans were not permitted to shows at the National Theatre in downtown Washington. When puppet and marionette shows came there, Thomas would organize plays and programs for the minority community at other venues. She gave several marionette shows in the city at such locations as the Phillis Wheatly Y.W.C.A., the Howard University Gallery of Art, Armstrong High and the Shaw Junior High Schools. Three Wishes, Alice in Wonderland, and works that she would personally script, were presented on these occasions. Through this medium, Thomas channeled her artistry in costume design, sculpture, and the theatre which satisfied her creative output.

Her community involvement was extended in 1943 with the establishment of the Barnett-Aden Gallery of Art. James V. Herring, who was chairman of the Department of Art for over twenty years, and Alonzo Aden, a graduate of the department and the first curator of the Howard University Galley of Art, founded the gallery in their residence at 127 Randolph Street, N.W. with Alma Thomas as its vice-president. At a time when the fine arts were considered almost the exclusive property of the upper-class, the "educated" and "privileged", the creation of the Barnett-Aden Gallery certainly represented a bold step forward.47 Administering a gallery of democratic practices, and demanding high quality, the Barnett-Aden gallery welcomed artists of every race, creed, and color. The first private gallery in the metropolitan area to break the color barrier and to display integrated shows, Barnett-Aden exhibited the work of

19