“Throughout my five years in the NFL, I remained at the deepest level of my being an artist.”
- Ernie Barnes
SUNRISE - JULY 15, 1938
Born to Fannie Geer and Ernest E. Barnes Sr. in Durham North Carolina during the height of the Jim Crow era.
1944
Enters grade school already familiar with Toulouse-Lautrec, Delecroix, Rubens and Michelangelo.
1952
Sneaks into the Durham Armory and experiences his first juke joint, the genesis for his painting "The Sugar Shack".
1956
Graduates Hillside High School with 26 athletic scholarship offers as the captain of the football team and shot-put state champion.