Oil on Canvas, 48” x 36”

Growing up black in Water Valley, Mississippi, was tough. Born in 1947, Robert Lee Fleming entered the world in the segregated south, where a colored life was not valued by the dominant white culture. “Separate but equal” was not at all equal. Limited educational and job opportunities kept most black families in poverty. Black or white, when a child is born into racism he breathes it in as the way of life. It takes years of maturity to notice, then question and begin to comprehend the inherently wrong and inhumane social structure. By then the effects have left indelible marks on the mind, demons to be reckoned with for a lifetime.