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Description
For the American Girl Historical Characters from Kaya to Courtney, this is what life would have been like for them when they grew up based on where, when, and the context of when they would be in their teens, twenties, and thirties followed by how they spent their forties and beyond and where they are today (if still alive). I did a lot of research on the eras and their contexts and also their outfits. The pieces of art are drawings of them at age 30.

Claudie Wells Martin

Claudie Wells came of age during the Great Depression, which started with the stock market crash of 1929 when she was 16. As a result, many were out of work and evicted from their homes. Although the Great Depression hit almost everyone hard, communities of color were hit the hardest, including Claudie and her family, who ended up being evicted from their home and faced housing discrimination from boarding houses. Everyone, including Claudie, had to look for work. She worked as a waitress at a pub for very little pay. However, she found a passion in painting pictures, which was a huge reliever of stress and a form of self-care for her. Even with the help of the New Deal, she and others like herself still faced discrimination in those projects. Despite receiving poor pay and using her money to support her multi-generational family, Claudie was able to save to attend Burlington County College in New Jersey in 1935 while working and then later the New School of Art in New York in 1939.

When Claudie graduated from art school in 1941, World War II began and her brand new husband was drafted. Although she had plans to start her career in art and her family, her dreams were put on hold when she decided to do her part in the war while also fighting for racial justice along with her husband. In 1943, she joined the Army Nurse Corps. When the war was over, she grew her family and then started her art career. Inspired by the works of Frida Kahlo’s self-portraits and Charles Alston’s murals, her paintings consisted of portraits of famous Black people or portraits of Black life of different eras and locations and contexts.

Claudie married jazz musician and childhood friend Winston Martin in 1941 and then had two children with him when they moved to New Jersey after the war – Genevieve and Peter. Genevieve would grow up to be a celloist while Peter would grow up to be a sculptor. For the rest of her life, Claudie sold paintings and taught art classes. When she reached her seventies, she became a highly recognized painter while also being indicted into the Hall of Fame. She retired in 1988, spending her remaining days in Atlantic City, and then died of natural causes in 2008.

I based her outfit and shoes off of uniform style dresses that were often worn in World War II due to material restrictions. I designed her hair with a combination of natural hair and 1940s curls and waves.
*The 30 Years That Completely Transformed Women's Fashion: Part 1, The 1940s - Vintage Clothing Online - 1950s Glam
*1943 Dress & Redingote D40-4662 – EvaDress Patterns (evadress-patterns.myshopify.com)
*90 (454×800) (familysearch.org)
* hair-and-makeup-artist.com/wor…

Links About the Eras
*Great Depression: Black Thursday, Facts & Effects - HISTORY
*World War II | Facts, Summary, History, Dates, Combatants, & Causes | Britannica
*Race Relations in the 1930s and 1940s | Great Depression and World War II, 1929-1945 | U.S. History Primary Source Timeline | Classroom Materials at the Library of Congress | Library of Congress (loc.gov)
*African Americans in World War II | The National WWII Museum | New Orleans (nationalww2museum.org)
*African American Nurses in World War II | National Women's History Museum (womenshistory.org)
*12 African American Artists You Should Know More About | Art & Object (artandobject.com)
*Opal Grapes, Army Nurse Corps | The National WWII Museum | New Orleans (nationalww2museum.org)

Description
For the American Girl Historical Characters from Kaya to Courtney, this is what life would have been like for them when they grew up based on where, when, and the context of when they would be in their teens, twenties, and thirties followed by how they spent their forties and beyond and where they are today (if still alive). I did a lot of research on the eras and their contexts and also their outfits. The pieces of art are drawings of them at age 30.

Claudie Wells Martin

Claudie Wells came of age during the Great Depression, which started with the stock market crash of 1929 when she was 16. As a result, many were out of work and evicted from their homes. Although the Great Depression hit almost everyone hard, communities of color were hit the hardest, including Claudie and her family, who ended up being evicted from their home and faced housing discrimination from boarding houses. Everyone, including Claudie, had to look for work. She worked as a waitress at a pub for very little pay. However, she found a passion in painting pictures, which was a huge reliever of stress and a form of self-care for her. Even with the help of the New Deal, she and others like herself still faced discrimination in those projects. Despite receiving poor pay and using her money to support her multi-generational family, Claudie was able to save to attend Burlington County College in New Jersey in 1935 while working and then later the New School of Art in New York in 1939.

When Claudie graduated from art school in 1941, World War II began and her brand new husband was drafted. Although she had plans to start her career in art and her family, her dreams were put on hold when she decided to do her part in the war while also fighting for racial justice along with her husband. In 1943, she joined the Army Nurse Corps. When the war was over, she grew her family and then started her art career. Inspired by the works of Frida Kahlo’s self-portraits and Charles Alston’s murals, her paintings consisted of portraits of famous Black people or portraits of Black life of different eras and locations and contexts.

Claudie married jazz musician and childhood friend Winston Martin in 1941 and then had two children with him when they moved to New Jersey after the war – Genevieve and Peter. Genevieve would grow up to be a celloist while Peter would grow up to be a sculptor. For the rest of her life, Claudie sold paintings and taught art classes. When she reached her seventies, she became a highly recognized painter while also being indicted into the Hall of Fame. She retired in 1988, spending her remaining days in Atlantic City, and then died of natural causes in 2008.

I based her outfit and shoes off of uniform style dresses that were often worn in World War II due to material restrictions. I designed her hair with a combination of natural hair and 1940s curls and waves.
*The 30 Years That Completely Transformed Women's Fashion: Part 1, The 1940s - Vintage Clothing Online - 1950s Glam
*1943 Dress & Redingote D40-4662 – EvaDress Patterns (evadress-patterns.myshopify.com)
*90 (454×800) (familysearch.org)
* hair-and-makeup-artist.com/wor…

Links About the Eras
*Great Depression: Black Thursday, Facts & Effects - HISTORY
*World War II | Facts, Summary, History, Dates, Combatants, & Causes | Britannica
*Race Relations in the 1930s and 1940s | Great Depression and World War II, 1929-1945 | U.S. History Primary Source Timeline | Classroom Materials at the Library of Congress | Library of Congress (loc.gov)
*African Americans in World War II | The National WWII Museum | New Orleans (nationalww2museum.org)
*African American Nurses in World War II | National Women's History Museum (womenshistory.org)
*12 African American Artists You Should Know More About | Art & Object (artandobject.com)
*Opal Grapes, Army Nurse Corps | The National WWII Museum | New Orleans (nationalww2museum.org)