Meet the Woman Who Designed Roosevelt Image on US Coin Without Recognition
- Selma Burke was one of the black heroes who became famous despite the odd of racism stacked against them
- An artist, the woman won competitions and made some outstanding works, one of which was the iconic Roosevelt image on the US dime
- Despite earlier overlook, the artist was later recognised for the significant piece of art
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Born on December 31, 1900, Selma Burke, the seventh of many children showed a great skill that tended towards the art as a child.
With very poor parents, Selma and her siblings had to get an education from a poor segregated school. At her leisure time and no luxury of toys, she always made objects from clays, Face2Face Africa reports.
At that time, her father and mother were very concerned about her future, wondering how the art would sustain her whenever she goes independent.
Selma’s only support came from her grandmother, a painter. With excellent results in school, her parents advised her towards ‘sellable’ professions like nursing.
Source: UGC
Many years later at Winston Selma University, her meeting with William Arial, a white man, changed her life as he became her close tutor.
In 1943, Selma won a fine arts competition with her portrait of former US President Franklin Roosevelt.
That single victory gave her an invitation to the White House to produce more sketches. There, among other things, she produced a plaque of the former president.
Though she has been celebrated for many amazing works, Face2Face Africa said she was not given credit for the plaque because of the racism at the time.
In 1945, American engraver John R made a Roosevelt dime with the image that bore a striking similarity to the one Selma earlier created.
The man added his initials without acknowledging the creator of the image. The same media reports that in recent times, the Record Administration of the Roosevelt Library in New York credited Selma for the portrait.
It should be noted the black artist caved in to her parents’ pressure and studied nursing as she graduated from St Agnes School of Nursing. Selma lived a full life and died at 94.
Meanwhile, Briefly.co.za previously reported a young South African man with the Twitter handle, @IamPakoMolema recently took to the app to share some relationship advice with his followers about love and relationships after he lost his wife because of his own mistakes.
"On a serious note though. I missed my ex-wife deeply yesterday. I realised I'd probably keep on missing her for the rest of my life. I hope people in good relationships don't mess up as I did. It is hard to come to terms with that kind of messing up. To all who had kind words. I thank you from the bottom of my heart," he wrote in the heartbreaking and heartfelt post.
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Source: Briefly News
Maryn Blignaut (Head of Human Interest Stories Desk) Maryn Blignaut is the Human Interest manager and feature writer. She holds a BA degree in Communication Science, which she obtained from the University of South Africa in 2016. She joined the Briefly - South African News team shortly after graduating and has over six years of experience in the journalism field. Maryn passed the AFP Digital Investigation Techniques course (Google News Initiative), as well as a set of trainings for journalists by Google News Initiative. You can reach her at: maryn.blignaut@briefly.co.za
Kelly Lippke (Senior Editor) Kelly Lippke is a copy editor/proofreader who started her career at the Northern-Natal Courier with a BA in Communication Science/Psychology (Unisa, 2007). Kelly has worked for several Caxton publications, including the Highway Mail and Northglen News. Kelly’s unique editing perspective stems from an additional major in Linguistics. Kelly joined Briefly News in 2018 and she has 14 years of experience. Kelly has also passed a set of trainings by Google News Initiative. You can reach her at kelly.lippke@briefly.co.za.
