Gorhea M. Offutt (1920-1998)

Gorhea M. Offutt was born on August 11, 1920, in Indiana. She attended Lincoln High School in Evansville, Indiana. As a young woman, she lived in that city with her parents. Her name appeared several times in the Evansville Argus, a black newspaper in print from 1938 to 1943. Gorhea (which may sometimes be spelled Gorohea) attended the Herron School of Art, the Art Institute of Chicago, and Butler University. In February 1945, her art appeared on the cover of World Call, the magazine of the Disciples of Christ, illustrating a poem called "For George Washington Carver." The poem, a sonnet, was written by Graziello Maggio, a sixteen-year-old resident of The Bronx, New York, and winner of first prize in an essay contest sponsored by the Grand Street Boys Association. Entries in the contest were to be "on lessons to be gathered from the life of the great Negro scientist, who was born in slavery" (quoted from the New York Times, Feb. 13, 1944). Eleanor Roosevelt took note of the poem in her "My Day" newspaper column of May 4, 1944. Graziella Maggio's poem:

For George Washington Carver

by Graziella Maggio

He took the warm, brown earth into his hand,

The warm, brown earth which matched his own dark skin.

He closed his fist and felt the heat expand,

The heat a Southern sun had put therein.

He took the pure bright colors of the earth

And to the world he made a gift of them.

He took a plant man said had little worth

And found a use for fruit and leaves and stem.

But though he did these things and many more,

He did not take the praise, instead disclosed

That it had been the hand of God that tore

The lock which keeps the Book of Knowledge closed.

Good fertile fields he made from useless sod—

This man with willing hands and faith in God.

And Gorhea Offutt's illustration from the following year:

I know nothing more about the artist except that she lived in Indianapolis and passed away on December 4, 1998.

Thanks to the Indiana State Library for its invaluable work in preserving information and images from the past. Gorhea Offutt's illustration above is from the library's collections. I hope that the Indiana State Library is not the only place where this image still exists.

Text copyright 2013 Terence E. Hanley