Bill Traylor, Chasing Ghosts at Bailey Hall At Broward College

Bill Traylor was born around 1853, on an Alabama cotton plantation owned by John Traylor, in Dallas County, Alabama, close to the Lowndes County line. Born into slavery, Traylor was about twelve years old when the Civil War ended, and he spent most of his life as a farm laborer, continuing to work and live near his birthplace for another six decades.

Like many blacks of his generation, the first generation of African American citizens, Traylor was supposed to farm the land without owning it, know his place, and disappear without leaving footprints.

Traylor, however, left a lot more than footprints. At the height of the Great Depression, now in his 70s and too old to farm, he moved to Montgomery to look for work……...

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Bill Traylor was born around 1853, on an Alabama cotton plantation owned by John Traylor, in Dallas County, Alabama, close to the Lowndes County line. Born into slavery, Traylor was about twelve years old when the Civil War ended, and he spent most of his life as a farm laborer, continuing to work and live near his birthplace for another six decades.

Like many blacks of his generation, the first generation of African American citizens, Traylor was supposed to farm the land without owning it, know his place, and disappear without leaving footprints.

Traylor, however, left a lot more than footprints. At the height of the Great Depression, now in his 70s and too old to farm, he moved to Montgomery to look for work……

…and there, after a period of doing odd jobs, Bill Traylor found himself homeless, and he began to draw.

It is the goal of Bill Traylor: Chasing Ghosts to continue to put the work of this master artist in the context of his world and to do it before that world completely vanishes.

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