Interview Between Emory Douglas and Jon Daniel
Original artwork by Emory Douglas © 2020
As the revolutionary artist and Minister of Culture for the Black Panther Party for Self Defense, Emory Douglas created the art for the Party's newspaper and iconic posters. Mr. Douglas's illustrations educated people about community issues and uplifted the Panthers' liberatory visions and social programs, including the Free Breakfast for Children.
We were honored that Mr. Douglas attended the 50th Anniversary of the Free Breakfast Program featuring a meal served by People’s Kitchen Collective and a Panther reunion organized by It’s About Time. As we highlight our long-time collaborators and heroes this summer, we’re grateful to have the opportunity to share this offering.
Below is the edited transcript of an interview between creative director Jon Daniel (1966-2017) and former Minister of Culture for the Black Panther Party for Self Defense, Emory Douglas. You can view the original transcript on Jon’s archived blog here as part of the 4 Corners series. To see more of Emory Douglas’ work see The Guardian and this video interview.
Emory Douglas at the 50th Anniversary of the Black Panther Party for Self Defense Organized by People’s Kitchen Collective with It’s About Time at Life is Living. Photo by Sana Javeri Kadri, Little Bobby Hutton Park, 2019
Jon Daniel: What's your art background?
Emory Douglas: I am basically a self-taught artist with minimal professional training. I attended City College in San Francisco off and on from around 1964 through ‘66 and majored in commercial art.
That educational practice introduced me to the basic graphic designing elements such as figure drawing, sketching, illustration drawing, lettering, layout and design, pre-press production, the offset printing process, the basic animation process, and how to critique and evaluate one’s work. This was my only academic graphic design training prior to my actual on-the-job training.
JD: How did you get started in your field of expertise?
ED: As a youth I was in and out of the detention centers, I will say, for illegal activity not sanctioned by the state. While there I would do mostly landscape art — nothing with any social meaning. Once I got out a year or so later, I decided to attend City College of San Francisco. The counselor at the detention center heard of my decision to attend college and suggested I take up art when I went to enroll. I mentioned to the college counselor that I would like to major in art, and he suggested I major in the commercial arts, which I did. Thereafter, the whole idea of my going to school was to try and break into commercial art either by becoming a designer, art director or illustrator. As a young artist, I heard of people who were making good money in those fields, so I wanted to join them. However, after a while I began to see and realize there was really only an elite few that made it and became successful and they were mostly the white students —
particularly the ones who had relatives or close family friends who had ties with people who were already established in the commercial art field.
While at City College, I developed my graphic art skills to a professional level where they would send me out on job assignments. I worked at a silkscreen factory where I learned the silkscreen printing process. I also worked at a downtown store in San Francisco, where they sold fine wine goblets and silverware, doing layout, cutting and pasting for their newspaper advertisements, and preparing signs for their store window displays.
Also, there were paying jobs that came in from various departments at the college for graphic design work such as sign lettering and technical illustrations. I, along with other art students who had developed our skills to a basic professional level, was offered these jobs.
Mr. Douglas in his studio. Photo by Sita Bhaumik.
JD: What challenges did you face/overcome in achieving your ambitions?
ED: Certainly there were challenges because this was at the height of the civil rights movement. Firms weren’t hiring Blacks so it was particularly difficult for African Americans who had many racial biases and obstacles to overcome. But at the same time, that’s how I got involved in political artwork.
For example, the whole time I attended City College, there was only me and sometimes one other Black person who were enrolled in the commercial art classes of about twenty students per class.
Also there were graphic styles that I created which one of the instructors expressed to me wasn’t commercial enough, so for awhile I had to go along with that whole framework of how they program you to produce artwork for your portfolio with a certain commercial style that was considered acceptable when it came time to looking for a job or going for job interviews.
The graphic styles I personally used — I had to put that to the side until later on. I remember one time for a class assignment to create a magazine layout, I created one similar to EBONY magazine (the most prominent African American magazine of the time) involving fashion models etc., and the teacher pulled me aside and said how much he appreciated what I had done. But to be honest with me, he said, it would be another ten years or so before ideas like mine would be accepted.
Eventually it was the civil rights and human rights pressures and campaigning against discrimination that began the process for Black people getting into the commercial arts industry during that period.
JD: Who and/or What are your greatest inspirations and influences?
ED: As a youngster growing up it was my mother. She was legally blind and worked hard as a single parent.
There was an artist I knew named Charles Bible. He lived downstairs from where I lived and he would mass produce multiple paintings of the same image of Malcolm X every year for the anniversary celebrations of Malcolm’s life to sell. I would ask him about his assembly line production process and his painting technique and he would explain both of them to me. The information he shared became very helpful when I began doing some portraits over the years.
The Black Arts Movement (BAM) which I made artistic contributions to during and prior to my joining The Black Panther Party in late January 1967.
There was this calendar I would see as a child at my aunt’s house — every year it featured artwork by a Black artist named Charles White, which had a real impact on me.
Also politically, I was inspired by the politics and artwork that was being created at the time — particularly artwork of the Cuban poster artists of OSPAAL (Organization of Solidarity with the People of Asia, Africa and Latin America) and from China, Vietnam, the Anti-War movement, and Palestine. The Cuban artists used to remix some of my artwork they saw in the Black Panther Newspaper and created some amazing solidarity posters that they would share around the world. That was very exciting and inspiring.
JD: What is your best piece of work or the project you are most proud of?
ED: I would say the best piece of work would have to be a volume of work that tells a story. Therefore, it would be my body of work for The Black Panther Party. But there are also volumes of work that I’m doing today that I feel strongly about, and that I am pleased and satisfied to be able to make a statement on current issues with and in a more contemporary way than what I did back then.
Panther Alums at the 50th Anniversary of the Black Panther Party for Self Defense Organized by People’s Kitchen Collective with It’s About Time at Life is Living. Photo by Sana Javeri Kadri, Little Bobby Hutton Park, 2019
JD: What would be your dream job or project?
ED: If I were younger, my dream job would probably be the head of a company at a department or organization dealing with basic human rights, enlightening and educating people, and using art as a language to communicate with people.
JD: Please name some people in your field that you believe deserve credit or recognition, and why.
ED: There are many — therefore, I prefer not to drop names as I started to do, because I’m sure to remember later I forgot to mention many others who also are amazing artists and great communicators through their art.
JD: What’s your best piece of advice for those wanting to follow in your footsteps?
ED: Whatever you do, stay focused and practice your craft. And if you’re doing political artwork or social commentary art, make sure you know the basic politics of whatever social issues that may concern you. Have fun! Don’t do it because it's a fad, do it because you believe in it and understand that the creative process will be an ongoing life-long journey.
JD: What's next for you?
ED: To continue doing what I’m doing - creating artwork that deals with quality of life issues, basic human rights violations, and concern for the challenges of poor and oppressed peoples in this world.
Emory Douglas would like to acknowledge the interviewer Brother, Jon Daniel who lived in Britain and since has joined the ancestors, but his visual inspiration lives on.