The Overlooked Legacy of Black American Natural Pigment-Making

A piece from Hyperallergic, part of a project by the 2025 Craft Archive Fellows with the Center for Craft, sheds light on the overlooked history of Black American natural pigment-making. It highlights the significance of plant and mineral dyes, such as indigo, which were traditionally cultivated by West Africans and their descendants, along with the 12th-century mudcloth technique (Bògòlanfini) from Mali. The author, an environmental designer, found a notable absence of records on Black natural color-making in the U.S. The article also features George Washington Carver, born into slavery in Missouri around the early 1860s, who became a renowned agricultural scientist and pigment maker. His paints, made from peanut oil and local materials, were mentioned in a November 1941 Time magazine article that dubbed him the 'Black Leonardo,' coinciding with the opening of the George Washington Carver Museum at Tuskegee University, which houses 71 of his artworks. The article argues for the need to preserve and revive this environmental craft tradition, questioning why the contributions of these artisans are frequently overlooked.