Lee Ransaw
Fine artist and art professor Lee Ransaw, was born on March 24, 1938, in Little Rock, Arkansas, to Sylvia and Lee Lester. In 1955, Ransaw received his high school diploma from Shortridge High School in Indianapolis, Indiana. He later attended Indiana University in Bloomington, Indiana where he earned his B.A. degree in art education in 1962 and his M.A. degree in fine arts in 1966. In 1973, Ransaw received his Ed.D. degree from Illinois State University.
While Ransaw was a graduate student at Illinois State University, he travelled to Nashville, Tennessee where he met artist and scholar David Driskell. This visit inspired Ransaw to begin collecting artwork for his private art collection. After taking courses at Pratt Institute in New York, Ransaw moved to Atlanta, Georgia, where he taught African art and Afro-American art at Emory University. In 1979, Ransaw was hired at Morris Brown College as an art professor where he painted the Centennial Mural which depicted the history of the college. The mural was considered to be a national project and was commissioned by the Atlanta Coca Cola Bottling Company. In 2002, Ransaw along with Lamar Wilson, director of Ruth Hall Hodges Art Gallery, founded The National Alliance of Artists from Historically Black Colleges and Universities (NAAHBCU) on the campus of Morris Brown College. Ransaw, then dean of arts and letters, and chair of the fine art department at the college, initially held a statewide exhibit that featured the artwork of the art faculty from Georgia based HBCUs. NAAHBCU held its first major traveling exhibition entitled Visions From Within at the James Kemp Gallery at The Black Academy of Arts & Letters in Dallas, Texas and featured thirty artists. In 2004, Ransaw was hired as an adjunct art professor at Spelman College in Atlanta, Georgia. Ramsaw retired as president of NAAHBCU in 2010 and served as chairman of the organization.
Among his many honors and awards were The Distinguished United Negro College Fund Scholars Award in Washington, D.C., The Rockefeller Foundation Fellowship to the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, The Ford Foundation Fellowship, and a Bronze Jubilee Award for artistic achievement given by PBS in Atlanta, Georgia.
Lee Ransaw was interviewed by The HistoryMakers on April, 19, 2011.
A2011.026
Male
4/19/2011
Ransaw
Married
A.
Shortridge High School
Indiana University
Illinois State University
George Washington Carver Elementary School 87
Pulaski Elementary School
Indiana University Northwest
Lee
Little Rock
RAN09
May
Arkansas
Southern France
Be Well, Do Good Work, And Keep In Touch.

Georgia
3/24/1938
Atlanta
United States
Lobster
Fine artist and art professor Lee Ransaw (1938 - ) was the dean of arts and letters and chair of the fine arts department at Morris Brown College and founder of The National Alliance of Artists from Historically Black Colleges.
Emory University
Morris Brown College
National Alliance of Artists from Historically Black Colleges
Spelman College
University of Wisconsin-Madison
Purple
Tape: 1 Story: 1 - Slating of Lee Ransaw's interview
Tape: 1 Story: 2 - Lee Ransaw lists his favorites
Tape: 1 Story: 3 - Lee Ransaw describes his father's upbringing and education
Tape: 1 Story: 4 - Lee Ransaw remembers his stepfather
Tape: 1 Story: 5 - Lee Ransaw describes his mother's upbringing
Tape: 1 Story: 6 - Lee Ransaw remembers moving to Indianapolis, Indiana
Tape: 1 Story: 7 - Lee Ransaw talks about his maternal grandmother
Tape: 1 Story: 8 - Lee Ransaw describes the sights, sounds and smells of his childhood
Tape: 1 Story: 9 - Lee Ransaw remembers living with his maternal relatives
Tape: 1 Story: 10 - Lee Ransaw recalls attending East Pulaski School in Gary, Indiana
Tape: 1 Story: 11 - Lee Ransaw talks about his early interest in art
Tape: 1 Story: 12 - Lee Ransaw describes his earliest memories of religion
Tape: 1 Story: 13 - Lee Ransaw describes his neighborhood in Gary, Indiana
Tape: 1 Story: 14 - Lee Ransaw talks about housing segregation in Indianapolis, Indiana
Tape: 2 Story: 1 - Lee Ransaw recalls attending George Washington Carver Elementary School 87 in Indianapolis, Indiana
Tape: 2 Story: 2 - Lee Ransaw remembers his favorite subjects in school
Tape: 2 Story: 3 - Lee Ransaw recalls attending Shortridge High School in Indianapolis, Indiana
Tape: 2 Story: 4 - Lee Ransaw talks about his childhood interests
Tape: 2 Story: 5 - Lee Ransaw recalls attending University United Methodist Church
Tape: 2 Story: 6 - Lee Ransaw describes his neighborhood in Indianapolis, Indiana
Tape: 2 Story: 7 - Lee Ransaw recalls his teachers and classmates
Tape: 2 Story: 8 - Lee Ransaw describes race relations in Indianapolis, Indiana
Tape: 2 Story: 9 - Lee Ransaw talks about African American representation in the media
Tape: 2 Story: 10 - Lee Ransaw recalls his decision to attend John Herron Art Institute
Tape: 3 Story: 1 - Lee Ransaw describes his mother's family background
Tape: 3 Story: 2 - Lee Ransaw recalls transferring to Indiana University in Bloomington, Indiana
Tape: 3 Story: 3 - Lee Ransaw describes race relations at Indiana University
Tape: 3 Story: 4 - Lee Ransaw remembers his professors at Indiana University
Tape: 3 Story: 5 - Lee Ransaw describes his art education at Indiana University
Tape: 3 Story: 6 - Lee Ransaw recalls his experiences at Indiana University
Tape: 3 Story: 7 - Lee Ransaw remembers his appointment to cryptologic linguist in the U.S. Army
Tape: 3 Story: 8 - Lee Ransaw recalls being stationed with the U.S. Army in Venice, Italy
Tape: 3 Story: 9 - Lee Ransaw describes his role as a cryptologic linguist in the U.S. Army
Tape: 4 Story: 1 - Lee Ransaw recalls his first teaching job
Tape: 4 Story: 2 - Lee Ransaw remembers the deaths of Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and President John Fitzgerald Kennedy
Tape: 4 Story: 3 - Lee Ransaw describes his dissertation on the Wall of Respect
Tape: 4 Story: 4 - Lee Ransaw recalls his introduction to African American art
Tape: 4 Story: 5 - Lee Ransaw describes his early knowledge of the black aesthetic
Tape: 4 Story: 6 - Lee Ransaw talks about his dissertation committee, pt. 1
Tape: 4 Story: 7 - Lee Ransaw talks about his dissertation committee, pt. 2
Tape: 4 Story: 8 - Lee Ransaw describes his children
Tape: 4 Story: 9 - Lee Ransaw recalls being hired at Morris Brown College in Atlanta, Georgia
Tape: 5 Story: 1 - Lee Ransaw recalls becoming department chair at Morris Brown College in Atlanta, Georgia
Tape: 5 Story: 2 - Lee Ransaw remembers receiving a fellowship from the Rockefeller Foundation
Tape: 5 Story: 3 - Lee Ransaw recalls starting his art collection
Tape: 5 Story: 4 - Lee Ransaw describes living and working in New York City
Tape: 5 Story: 5 - Lee Ransaw talks about some of his art exhibits
Tape: 5 Story: 6 - Lee Ransaw describes his improvements to the art department at Morris Brown College
Tape: 5 Story: 7 - Lee Ransaw recalls painting murals for Morris Brown College
Tape: 5 Story: 8 - Lee Ransaw describes his artwork, 'Dance of the Chicken Thieves'
Tape: 5 Story: 9 - Lee Ransaw recalls receiving a grant from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation
Tape: 5 Story: 10 - Lee Ransaw describes Atlanta's artistic renaissance
Tape: 5 Story: 11 - Lee Ransaw talks about strategy behind collecting art
Tape: 5 Story: 12 - Lee Ransaw recalls the founding of the National Black Arts Festival
Tape: 5 Story: 13 - Lee Ransaw describes his work at Morris Brown College in the late 1980s
Tape: 6 Story: 1 - Lee Ransaw talks about organizing an exhibit for the 1996 Summer Olympics in Atlanta, Georgia
Tape: 6 Story: 2 - Lee Ransaw recalls founding the National Alliance of Artists from Historically Black Colleges and Universities
Tape: 6 Story: 3 - Lee Ransaw reflects upon his accomplishments and fellowships
Tape: 6 Story: 4 - Lee Ransaw recalls helping Dan Moore, Sr. to establish the APEX Museum in Atlanta, Georgia
Tape: 6 Story: 5 - Lee Ransaw remembers painter Benny Andrews
Tape: 6 Story: 6 - Lee Ransaw describes the exhibit 'Coming by Force: Overcoming by Choice'
Tape: 6 Story: 7 - Lee Ransaw talks about his plans for the future
Tape: 6 Story: 8 - Lee Ransaw describes his wife
Tape: 6 Story: 9 - Lee Ransaw shares a message for future generations of artists
Tape: 6 Story: 10 - Lee Ransaw reflects upon his legacy
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