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Lisa Whittington

Lisa Whittington is an African-American artist and teacher who's contributions have been felt in the Civil Rights Movement and in the public education system. Born and raised in New York, Whittington was exposed to pop art and pop culture from an early age, which greatly influenced her decision to pursue a career in the arts. Whittington is best known to the art community for her painting of Emmett Till, a young African-American boy who was brutally murdered in Money, Mississippi, and is considered to be on of the catalysts of the Civil Rights Movement. Her research into underprivileged urban school districts is also a distinguishing feature in her impact on society, helping raise awareness of underfunded art departments.

Early Life

Lisa Michel’e Whittington was born in March of 1965 at Harlem Hospital Center in Harlem, New York. For most of her childhood she was raised in a single parent home with 5 other brothers and sisters. She resided in Harlem, New York until her third year in public schooling in various tenements, brownstones, and project housing. Her family moved around frequently due to property evictions and the run-down conditions of the housing they were living in .

Whittington grew up well below the poverty threshold, such that her main source of food came from welfare cheese and the free breakfast program she qualified for in school. She rarely spent time outdoors, due to the harsh environment of Harlem that her family lived in . Most of her exposure to the outside world came from the various schools she attended.

Whittington started public school in 1969, one year after Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s assassination at the integrated school P.S. 8 Harlem. From here, her love for the arts would grow exponentially. Throughout her public-school education, Whittington would visit numerous historical and artistic exhibits in her community and city. Some notable trips included destinations like: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts, and Broadway Theatre.

The many field trips and artistic activities she did in school would turn love into inspiration that motivated her to further her education in the arts and humanities. After moving to Far Rockaway, Queens in the third grade, Whittington attended junior high school at Brian Piccolo Middle School 53, where she had the experience of learning from a certified art teacher for the first time. She then carried her interest of art into Far Rockaway High School by enrolling in their Humanities Arts Program, a path that most of her peers discarded to pursue their interest in the medical field. This exposed Whittington to numerous facets of art: performance art, visual art, theaters, plays, shop lasses, and calligraphy. By gaining confidence through her progress in the Humanities Arts Program, Whittington also became more involved in school activities. She secured the position of parliamentarian in her school government, assisted in making the school yearbook, and took an active role in the school’s newspaper.

During high school, the situation within her family had become increasingly toxic. Her single mother became steadily involved in excessive drinking and consuming drug paraphernalia, so much so that she became abusive towards her children. This abuse eventually led to Whittington being kicked out of the household during one of her mother’s drug highs.

After being kicked out, Whittington fell into a deep state of depression. She was homeless for a while, still attending high school at Far Rockaway, and staying the night in various places in Harlem. At one point, one of her high school friends offered her a place to live at his house, where she stayed for the remainder of her time at Far Rockaway High School.

College

Whittington attended CW Post College for her first 2 years of collegiate studies. This was only possible through the Higher Education Opportunity Program, which she and 18 other students were chosen out of a pool of 500 applications to receive a full tuition scholarship. During this course of time, Whittington’s degree path changed 3 times. Eventually, she graduated with a bachelor’s degree in Graphic Design. From there, she transferred to the University of Georgia, where she became certified to teach art. However, events in her early career would motivate her to go back to the University of Georgia and completed her Doctor of Education (EdD) degree.

Graffiti

Living in Far Rockaway and Harlem, Whittington was surrounded by pop culture artistry. Graffiti was particularly inspiring to her in her younger years. When she moved into her friend’s house after being kicked out by her mother in high school, the subway system became her main mode of transportation. From the subway, Whittington became conscious of the graffiti art surrounding her. Their “illegal creativity” would brighten her day, momentarily distracting her from the depression she was experiencing. Keith Haring was a graffiti artist whose art she especially enjoyed. From this artwork, Whittington became fascinated with Pop Art and the connection she felt with artists who wanted to show the world their art through various means.

Early Career

After she was certified by the University of Georgia to teach art, Whittington began her career as a teacher simultaneously at two disadvantaged, elementary schools that taught up to the 8th grade. The schools were relatively small, with each consisting of about 800 students. Most of the students were of the minority, African American and Hispanic. From the start, Whittington became steadily aware of the financial hardships on disadvantaged schools, especially in her art department. For her first year of teaching, she had been awarded approximately $300.00 to spend on art supplies for both schools from August until May. Her first year of teaching tested her to the limit. However, a new mentality and a change in principals would soon heighten her confidence and the school’s reputation.

At the start of her second year of teaching, Whittington’s new principal made a tremendous impact on budget allocations and morale across all subject areas. Her newfound confidence would eventually lead her to enroll in a master’s program for art education and educational leadership, which was fully supported by her new principal.

When the Congressional initiative No Child Left Behind was signed into law in 2002 by former President George W. Bush, the site-based management from which Whittington and her fellow teachers were successful in was no longer considered an adequate system. Focus was no directed on producing better test results and higher grades, which greatly reduced Whittington’s meaningful interactions with her students, both in its quality and quantity. Art classes were shortened to 30 minutes a day, and her teaching style became result-oriented. After operating under this new form of teaching for a few years, Whittington decided to transfer to a middle school to find a more meaningful teaching experience.

From this new environment, she was able to connect with her new students to a greater degree than her elementary students. She and her students created artwork that would be posted in areas all over the school grounds. This would eventually attract people walking on the side of the street who would ask to purchase the artwork created by her students. Some of these notable art collectors included representatives from the Tupac Shakur Foundation, Emory University, and The Atlanta Links.

These contributions to the art community would only last for a few years. A string of interim principals would significantly divert funding away from her art class, leaving her students with minimal art supplies. At times, Whittington and her students resorted to making art out of trash that they could find. These fluctuations that Whittington had experienced in regards to the school’s budgeting for her student’s success in art served as the foundation for her desire to enroll in a doctorate program in art education, which would further build her platform and influence on the art and education community.

After earning her Doctor of Education (EdD) degree, Whittington went back to her old job as a middle school teacher but transferred to the high school level after her principal was heard making a racist comment in the work environment. Whittington’s first year as a high school teacher involved teaching at three separate high schools, due to the district’s desire to create small learning communities for its students. Like prior years, she immediately encountered issues with the lack of funding for each school’s art department. Similar to her experience teaching middle school, Whittington had to search through the trash to find suitable art material for her students. At one point, an employee of the State Department of Education used $150.00 of her personal money to buy school supplies for Whittington’s students.

Whittington’s experiences in the public-school system, from the elementary up to high school level, left a long-lasting impact on her life. Her research at the University of Georgia would focus on identifying key factors that inhibit art teachers from providing a quality education to their students, as well as the various aspects of underprivileged schools in urban areas. Whittington believed in the importance of art in a student’s life, and is currently striving to better the conditions of urban school districts through her qualitative research.

Paintings

Lisa Whittington is well-known for her paintings that revolve around the Civil Rights Movement. In particular, her painting of Emmett Till’s body in contrast with Dana Schutz’s painting titled Open Casket sparked much debate over the depth to which Schutz should’ve expressed the gruesome mutilation that Till experienced in Money, Mississippi, and her ability to comprehend the oppression of African Americans during the Civil Rights Movement and beyond. In tandem with her painting of Emmett Till, Whittington also created a painting of Mamie Till-Mobley, the mother of Emmett Till, and the extreme grief she experienced when she found out that her son had been murdered.