Politics: Legislature votes to have Highwaymen license plates

Doretha Hair Truesdell, Larry Lee and Delores Hogan-Johnson hold a sample of what the license plate would look like.

LICENSE LEGACY

THE FLORIDA HIGHWAYMEN COULD SOON BE RECOGNIZED ON LICENSE PLATES.

BY D. SHENELL REED

When Alfred Hair was a young man, an art teacher at Lincoln Park Academy in Fort Pierce, Zenobia Johnson, saw a spark in him. She believed he could become a great painter, and her private instruction and that of artist “Beanie” Backus nudged him in that direction. But it was his own passion that inspired a movement—one that is generations long and has the respect of art critics worldwide: The Florida Highwaymen. This group of Black painters who sold their art along Florida’s busiest roads used their art to create a business.

Now, the Florida legislature has made a move that punctuates the importance of their legacy. In April, members of the House and Senate approved a new specialty license plate that honors the group. All the Bill needs now is 3,000 presale vouchers purchased by October 2022.

First introduced by Rep. Larry Lee, the Bill passed in the House. However, the 2018 shooting at Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland and a busy hurricane season put the Bill on the back burner, and the Senate did not have a chance vote. Fast forward a few years, Lee left the House, so Rep. Delores Hogan-Johnson reintroduced the Bill, and it passed.

“This extolled their talents, their virtues. These were early entrepreneurs in the 50s, 60s, 70s. That original group of men and women, they were out there serious. I would see them,” Johnson said. “So (having the Bill passed) was really a labor of love. We got support all across the legislature.”

Fees from the specialty plate would go toward the creation of a Highwaymen Museum and African-American cultural center in Fort Pierce.

“The money goes to the City of Ft Pierce…and nobody can take the money and use it for something other than what we intended—and that is to help develop and help operate a museum,” said Lee. “The City donated a building named after the first Black Commissioner in Fort Pierce, Jackie Caynon, to house the museum.”

The project will be worth the wait. Known for painting vibrant strokes that beautifully capture Florida’s landscape on canvas, the Highwaymen came up during the Jim Crow era when mainstream museums would not feature Black artists’ work. But Alfred Hair was not deterred. He painted and sold his creations along Florida’s highways. Later, others joined him taking their canvases on road trips that could result in quite a financial haul.

“When it started, all the young men could do was either pick tomatoes or climb trees to pick oranges, and this was a way out of it,” said Doretha Hair Truesdell, who joined her then-husband, Alfred, on trips and started painting also. “Even though the paintings were selling for only $25-$30, if you sold four or five paintings, during that time, $100 a day was nothing to sneeze at. So, people saw Alfred was making money; they thought, ‘if he can do it, I can do it.’ And people just started painting and selling. (It expanded) when Al Black, who can sell anything, became our salesperson. He was going everywhere!”

Today, the Highwaymen’s paintings can be seen all over the world—in exhibits throughout North America, displayed in the Lithuanian Embassy. Mary Ann Carroll, the only woman among the 26 original Highwaymen, presented one of her paintings to First Lady Michelle Obama during the First Lady’s Luncheon at the Congressional Club in Washington, D.C., in 2011.

That exposure will grow if the 3,000 pre-purchases happen. In 2023, we could see the Poinciana tree, which has become somewhat of a Highwaymen trademark, on license plates throughout the state and along the nation’s highways. Hair Truesdell said that would suit Alfred just fine.

“He’d say ‘yes, this is the way it is, and it’s how it should be.’”

Presale vouchers are $39.95 at myfloridaspecialtyplate.com.