ORLANDO, Fla. – During Black History Month, we told you about how the Florida Highwaymen got their start in the 1950s, selling paintings of Florida landscapes along the highways.
Among the group of 26 Black artists, included one woman, Mary Ann Carroll.
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According to the Orange County Regional History Center, she was born in 1940 in Georgia. She was a child of sharecroppers who moved to Fort Pierce.
She joined the Florida Highwaymen who learned from A.E. Backus. He taught the artists how to paint landscapes and turn them out quickly. The artists mentored each other. For Carroll, painting was a way for her to make money from home while raising seven children.
The group was excluded from traditional art galleries and that is why they traveled around the state. They sold their paintings on the side of highways to travelers and also visited small businesses. Carroll said she traveled around the state by herself, during segregation.
It took several decades for the artists to grow in popularity. In 2004, they were inducted into the Florida Artists Hall of Fame.
In 2011, Carroll was an honored guest at the annual First Lady’s Luncheon in Washington, D.C. She even presented one of her paintings to former First Lady Michelle Obama.
Carroll died in 2019 at the age of 79.
This Thursday, the Orange County Regional History Center will honor her life and legacy in the third annual Women’s History Month Breakfast.
Featured speakers include her daughter, Dr. Wanda Renee Mills. She will discuss how Carroll was as a mother and an artist. Longtime expert Jeanine Taylor of Jeanine Taylor Folk Art in Sanford will also be there and share her story of bringing Carroll’s art to Central Florida.
Tickets are $35. A light breakfast will be served from 8 a.m. to 9 a.m., with the presentation beginning at 9 a.m.
For more information on the event and reserving tickets, click here.