Ruth Cobb Brice
(1899 1971)
Beck Cultural Exchange Center Collection
Born in Knoxville, Ruth Cobb Brice graduated from Swift Memorial College, a historically Black college in Rogersville, and was soon teaching at schools in Rogersville, Greeneville, and LaFollette. During the summer months she studied at the Tennessee Agricultural & Industrial State University in Nashville.
The Knox County School District hired Brice in 1928 to teach art at Heiskell Elementary School, then a public school for Black children. She later taught at Maynard Elementary in Mechanicsville.
Brice's interest in art blossomed more fully while studying at Knoxville College during the mid-1930's. When she ad the opportunity, she studied with professional artists in Washington, D.C.
In the 1940s, she began writing poetry under the pseudonym Rachel Jane McKinney. In 1949 she published a poetry booklet called The Wrong Slant. While very short, the booklet gives her a claim to be Knoxvilles first Black female author. On her business card she described herself as "poetess and lecturer".
By 1953, she was exhibiting her artwork in Knoxville, and over the next two decades, she became a familiar face in local galleries.
Brice once lived on East Knoxvilles South Georgia Street, near the urban section know as the Bottom. A neighbor and friend, noted historian Robert Booker, recalled her as a prolific artist. She later lived on Groner Driver in the Morningside area. She retired after 47 years of teaching, and devoted her life more fully to art. In 1968, Brice became the first Black artist to join the invitation-only Knoxville Watercolor Society.
Brice's work was shown across the country, from Omaha, Nebraska, to New York City, as well as locally at Knoxville College, which offered an exhibit of her work in 1967; the University of Tennessee; ad Dulin Gallery of Art. Near the end of her life, she painted two notable murals for East Tennessee Children's Hospital in 1970.
She died in 1971 and is buried in Crestview Cemetery in the West View community. The Beck Cultural Exchange Center organized a retrospective exhibition of 50 of her works in 1985, and still keeps several of her works in its permanent collection.
Erected by Knoxville
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Topics and series. This historical marker is listed in these topic lists: African Americans • Arts, Letters, Music • Women. In addition, it is included in the Historically Black Colleges and Universities, and the Knoxville History Project - Downtown Art Wraps series lists. A significant historical year for this entry is 1960.
Location. 35° 58.671′ N, 83° 54.608′ W. Marker is in Knoxville, Tennessee, in Knox County. It is at the intersection of East Magnolia Avenue (U.S. 70) and Winona Street, on the left when traveling west on East Magnolia Avenue. Touch for map. Marker is at or near this postal address: 1420 E Magnolia Ave, Knoxville TN 37917, United States of America. Touch for directions.
Regionally, this marker is in East Tennessee. It is also in the American South, specifically in the Upper South, in Appalachia, and specifically in Southern Appalachia. Globally, it is in North America, the Western Hemisphere, the Western World, and the Anglosphere. Historically, it finds itself in what was once the original Cherokee Nation, the territory of the Mississippian Culture, one of the Confederate
Other nearby markers. At least 8 other markers are within walking distance of this marker: Magnolia Avenue History (here, next to this marker); Beauford Delaney (about 600 feet away, measured in a direct line); a different marker also named Magnolia Avenue History (about 600 feet away); a different marker also named Ruth Cobb Brice (approx. Ό mile away); a different marker also named Magnolia Avenue History (approx. Ό mile away); Knoxville (approx. 0.3 miles away); Charles Griffin Farr (approx. 0.4 miles away); a different marker also named Magnolia Avenue History (approx. 0.4 miles away). Touch for a list and map of all markers in Knoxville.
Credits. This page was last revised on July 28, 2021. It was originally submitted on July 27, 2021, by Tom Bosse of Jefferson City, Tennessee. This page has been viewed 731 times since then and 60 times this year. Photos: 1, 2, 3. submitted on July 27, 2021, by Tom Bosse of Jefferson City, Tennessee. • Devry Becker Jones was the editor who published this page.
