In 1935, together with Charles Alston, Augusta Savage (who had experienced discrimination in her artistic career), others artists and bibliophile Arthur Schomburg, Lightfoot founded the Harlem Artists Guild[11] to work towards equality in WPA art programs in New York.[12][13] In 1936, a group of African American artists, including Charles Alston, Georgette Seabrook, Vertis Hayes, Sara Murrell, Selma Day, and Lightfoot submitted mural designs for Harlem Hospital in New York City. The murals were approved by the WPA's Federal Art Project (FPA), but the hospital superintendent, L.T. Dermody, initially rejected four of the designs.[14][15]
She was among the artists who took part in the Exhibition of the Art of the American Negro (1851-1940) (July 4–September 2, 1940), connected with the American Negro Exposition, at the Tanner Art Galleries in Chicago.[16] She also featured in American Negro Art, 19th and 20th Centuries (December 9, 1941 – January 3, 1942) at New York's Downtown Gallery, the first exhibition of African-American art to have been held at a mainstream commercial gallery; curated by Edith Halpert, owner of the gallery. The exhibition counted among its sponsors such prominent white patrons as Mayor Fiorello La Guardia, Archibald MacLeish, A. Philip Randolph, and Eleanor Roosevelt.[17]
Elba Lightfoot appears in a group photograph of the artists of the WPA Art Center at 306 W. 141st St., New York.[18]
^Kalfatovic, Martin R. (1994). Full text of 'The New Deal fine arts projects : a bibliography, 1933-1992'. ISBN 9780810827493. Retrieved 2012-02-02. Berman, Greta. "Walls of Harlem." Arts 52 (October 1977): 122-26. "Account of six African-American artists (Charles Alston, Vertis Hayes, Georgette Seabrooke, Sara Murrell, Selma Day, and Elba Lightfoot) who worked on murals at the Harlem Hospital in 1936.
^"Harlem Hospital WPA Murals - The Artists: Introduction". Retrieved 2012-02-02.
^"Illinois, Cook County, Birth Certificates, 1871-1949", database, FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:Q239-B8MR : 5 October 2022), Elba Ansaloise Lightfoot, 1942.
^"United States Census, 1910," database with images, FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:MKH2-61L : accessed 24 April 2023), Elba Lightfoot in household of Izaih [sic] Lightfoot, Evanston, Cook, Illinois, United States; citing enumeration district (ED) ED 100, sheet , family , NARA microfilm publication T624 (Washington D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, 1982), roll ; FHL microfilm.
^"United States Census, 1920", database with images, FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:MJW7-7SJ : 1 February 2021), Elbe Lightfoot in entry for Isaac Lightfoot, 1920.
^"United States Census, 1930," database with images, FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:XSRS-MH1 : accessed 24 April 2023), Elba Lightfoot in household of Isoc Lightfoot, Evanston, Cook, Illinois, United States; citing enumeration district (ED) ED 2135, sheet 15B, line 65, family 319, NARA microfilm publication T626 (Washington D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, 2002), roll 500; FHL microfilm 2,340,235.
^"New York, New York City Marriage Records, 1829-1938", database, FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:24DR-VTV : 21 August 2022), Alberto Reyes and Elba Ansoloise Lightfoot, 1934.
^Sharon F. Patton, "Negro art organizations", African-American Art, Oxford University Press, 1998, p. 147.
^Lemoine Deleaver Pierce (2004). "Charles Alston – An Appreciation". The International Review of African American Art (4): 33–38.
^Wintz, Carrie D.; Paul Finkelman, eds. (2004). "Second Harlem Renaissance". Encyclopedia of the Harlem Rennassance. Vol. 1. New York: Routledge. p. 1100. ISBN 0-203-31930-3. Retrieved February 2, 2012.
^Perry, Regenia; Knight, Christina; Jegede, Dele; Cooks, Bridget R.; Holloway, Camara Dia; Borum, Jenifer P. (2003). "African American art". Grove Art Online. doi:10.1093/gao/9781884446054.article.T001094. ISBN 978-1-884446-05-4. Retrieved 2021-04-10.
^"RACE BIAS CHARGED BY NEGRO ARTISTS; L.T. Dermody, Harlem Hospital Head, Accused of Rejecting 4 of 6 Murals". The New York Times. Retrieved 2021-04-10.
^"DeReyes, Elba Lightfoot. (Evanston, IL, 1910-New York, NY, 1989)", Exhibition of the Art of the American Negro (1851-1940). AAVAD.com.
^"Lightfoot, Elba (De Reyes)", American Negro Art, 19th and 20th Centuries. AAVAD.com.
^"The artists of the 306 W. 141st Street WPA Art Center". Institute for Research in African-American Studies, Columbia University.
^"Elba Lightfoot interview, 1988, in Emory FindingAids : Camille Billops and James V. Hatch Archives at Emory University : Series 3: Artist and Influence oral history interviews". Retrieved 2012-02-02.
^Find a Grave, database and images (https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/50673077/elba-reyes : accessed 24 April 2023), memorial page for Elba Reyes (1907–1989), Find a Grave Memorial ID 50673077, citing Trinity Church Cemetery and Mausoleum, Manhattan, New York County (Manhattan), New York, USA; Maintained by recordagrave.org (contributor 46960600).
External linksedit
Toy Parade by Elba Lightfoot
"Hatch, James V. and Leo Hamalian, eds. Artist and Influence Vol. 8: The Cornucopia (1989). New York: Hatch-Billops Collection, Inc., 1989. Elba Lightfoot interview". Archived from the original on 2016-03-04. Retrieved 2012-02-02.