Hall of Fame Original Florida Highwaymen
Fort Pierce, Florida, A Legend of the Road!
Celebrating Black History
Alfred Hair 1941 - 1970
"The History Maker!" "Alfred Hair, A Legend of the Road" is an icon on the Highwaymen Heritage Trail.
It all began when Zanobia Jefferson, an African American art educator, cared about her students. She understood institutional racism meant picking oranges and tomatoes for a living, which awaited most black high school graduates during the 1950s and 60s in the small town of Fort Pierce, Florida.
Mrs. Jefferson introduced her young student Alfred Hair to a prominent white artist, A. E. "Beanie" Backus, who lived in Fort Pierce.
Their friendship was one of intrigue since blacks and whites did not mingle, and oil painting was a venture associated with whites only amid segregated times of the Civil Rights Era and the Laws of Jim Crow. Alfred Hair exclusively studied with A. E. Backus.
Hair learned to paint under the tutelage of Backus and shared his knowledge with family and friends. His friendly, respectful charismatic charm offered that wow factor; the quality of his character made selling paintings just a little easier.
"The Heart Of The Highwaymen"
A small group of men formed, seeking an escape from a system of poverty, and racism, a design tailored for blacks. With no formal art schooling, close friends and family taught one another to paint Florida landscapes. Many of the painters would typically be seen throughout southeast Florida. One would find them creating colorful scenes in parks, along the roadsides and river edges.
Then tragedy struck; Alfred Hair was killed on August 9, 1970, at 29, in Eddie's Place, a juke joint in Fort Pierce.
After a long day of selling paintings along the highway, Eddie's Place was a famous hangout spot where the young men would meet to unwind for drinks and the latest soul music hits. Some of the men took a short hiatus to mourn the loss of their leader.
Others who had families to support continued to paint and sell their work on the road. More friends joined the movement, and the young entrepreneurs continued the journey. Even through difficult times for the next 30 years, the young men persevered, and all twenty-six received a lifetime achievement honor of recognition.
In 2004, twenty-five men and one woman were inducted into the Florida Artist Hall of Fame as the Original Highwaymen.
Alfred Hair's selective materials are now artifacts of history; some are still used today.
Upson board was used as a canvas; crown molding was crafted as frames, proven makeshift worked since traditional supplies were not affordable.
Hair's 1950s assembly line invention allowed him to produce fast paintings that quickly sold for $15 to 25 dollars each.
Alfred Hair, one of the earliest painters, is regarded as one of the leaders of the 1950s art movement.
Hair's paintings are in high demand, and his life's work is valued in the tens of thousands.
Alfred Hair is on the Highwaymen Heritage Trail in St. Lucie County. Alfred Hair helped make Highwaymen art what it is today.