![\"highwayman\"](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/dailyridge.com\/eng\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/02\/highwayman-346x280.jpg?resize=346%2C280\")
<\/strong><\/p>\nIn honor of Black History Month the Lake Wales Library Association \u2013 Friends of the Library and the Florida Humanities Council present photographer and author, Gary Monroe.\u00a0 Mr. Monroe has written extensively on The Highwaymen<\/em>, self-taught African American artist who painted idyllic versions of the Florida landscapes in the 1960s and 1970s.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Monroe\u2019s lively talk relates the story of these now-acclaimed artists who sold their paintings door to door in Florida during the height of the Civil Rights Movement.\u00a0 Their paintings are now recognized as indigenous Florida art and are celebrated and widely collected.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Gary Monroe wrote the seminal book that introduced The Highwaymen to the world.\u00a0 In The Highwaymen: Florida\u2019s African-American Landscape Painters <\/em>Monroe told the story of these artists and their contribution to shaping Florida\u2019s popular image.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n He successfully nominated Florida\u2019s Highwaymen into the Florida Artists Hall of Fame.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n This program is free and open to all and begins at 6:30 p.m., Feb. 18 in the Lake Wales Public Library\u2019s Schoenoff Meeting Room.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n