Allen Stringfellow was born in Champaign, Illinois. The son of a nightclub singer and a jazz guitarist, he was raised around entertainers in Chicago. As a teenager, he started designing costumes for his father’s performer friends. Along the way, he painted religious murals for local churches.

He studied at the University of Illinois, and the Art Institute of Milwaukee in Wisconsin. During the W.P.A*., he taught silk-screening to other artists. At the time, he met the artist William S. Carter; and became part of the Southside Community Art Center, an arts program affiliated with the W.P.A. that was dedicated by Mrs. Eleanor Roosevelt in the 1940’s.

The Center”s central figure was master artist and teacher George Neal. Acclaime...