African American Artist Series: Florida Highwaymen

Despite the name, the Florida Highwaymen consisted of 25 men and one woman from Fort Pierce, FL. This group of African American artists created an art movement in the 1950s-1980s consisting of scenes of Florida with bright colors before tourism took over. They were called Highwaymen because they would travel the highways to sell their art to hotels, businesses, and individuals out of the trucks of their cars. Their strategy was to create paintings they could do quickly as they would paint 25-30 paintings a day and then sell them for as low as $25 per painting. Each of these paintings is now worth $5,000 to $10,000 or more.

Harold Newton (considered the original Florida Highwayman)

Harold Newton is considered the original Florida Highwayman. He and Alfred Hair are credited with founding the group of painters in the Jim Crow South. You can learn about each of the 26 Highwaymen and the history of this group here.

“Untitled Florida Landscape” by Harold Newton

For a deeper dive, meet a second-generation Highwayman in this video.