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Smith, Vincent D. | Encyclopedia.com. (n.d.). Retrieved from https://www.encyclopedia.com/education/news-wires-white-papers-and-books/smith-vincent-d

What's The Word? (n.d.). Retrieved from https://johnnybmoore.com/tag/african-american/page/3/

Smith, Vincent D. | Encyclopedia.com. (n.d.). Retrieved from https://www.encyclopedia.com/education/news-wires-white-papers-and-books/smith-vincent-d

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I believe that overall this was a very effective piece of art. Vincent Smith needed to bring awareness to street violence and the black on black crime. He used red to depict the high amount of blood spill going, a Do-rag as a symbol of black crime and a Gritty sand texture to grasp the darkness of this time. Now the question is was capturing the darkness the most effective way as it causes fear, or should there have been a quiet amount of light to depict hope and inspiration.

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Vincent Smith painting perfectly depicts the darkness of black on black violence during this time. As he uses a volume of red to show the blood spill, and even a gritty texture to show the darkness. The flaw in this is that it only paints darkness. I believe that this art could have used some light for some inspiration for people that would look at this and relate to it. Since this was a time of darkness some light mixed in with the dark could of acted as an inspiration piece.

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Vincent Smith knew that he had to catch the grittiness scene of the black on black violence. Vincent used a gritty texture of sand throughout this entire painting. By doing this everything looks a little darker and rough,and even the main figure looks almost not human, as Vincent could have been depicting that this life was turning African Americans into something other than themselves.

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Do-rags are used as head ties to sometimes protect hair, but are now and at this time a stereotypical symbol for black people. Some also tie a do-rag in with gang affiliation. Knowing this Vincent made the main figure have a do-rag in the painting which is the only figure you can really see his face. By doing this he has a symbol in the painting that involves the issue he's trying to bring to light

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Due to the black on black crime, street violence was still at highest peak, because of this the death of African Americans was also increasing. Even though this was known there wasn't any noticeable movements addressing this issue. The use of red with this chalky texture highlights the bloody events that would occur in this street violence. As the red is very chalky n smudged.

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The message of Do-Rag Brother was to depict a time when many black men would turn to the streets. This was a time when black on black crime was at it's highest. So Vincent Smith was attempting to bring awareness to this issue in a powerful way. He shows one side of this tale through his painting with the high use of rad and black male figures as well.

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Vincent Smith was recording an era when many took to the streets. Vincent paints politically and socially disenfranchised figures of art that are powerful. He does this so that his art, off first glance can be taken serious,

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Vincent Dacosta Smith was born on December 12, 1929. His life went from hobo to artist. After beginning his life as a hobo at the age of 16, this was also the start of his first "social awareness" while working on the Lackawanna Railroad, repairing tracks. After enrolling in the army for a year in 1949, Vincent got a job at a post office and was not satisfied, but after a friend invited him to a museum he quickly realized that this is where he belonged. In 1953 Vincent left his job to become a full time artist. In the 1950's his work took a political turn as the civil rights movement became more popular. In 1954 the Supreme Court case "Brown vs. the Board of Education" made it so that all public schools had to integrate. After observing the mobs of white adults taunt African American school children, this is when Vincent made "First Day of School". In this painting he depicts a mob of furious people going crazy at seven black school children as the arrive for their first day of school. In the late 1960's and 1970's, Vincent became a model in the Black Arts Movement. This would be the jump start of his art activist career.