# William E. Harmon Foundation Award for Distinguished Achievement Among Negroes

The William E. Harmon Foundation Award for Distinguished Achievement Among Negroes, commonly referred to as the Harmon Award or Harmon Foundation Award, was a philanthropic and cultural award created in 1926 by William E. Harmon and administered by the Harmon Foundation. It was offered for distinguished achievements in eight different fields: literature, music, fine arts, business and industry (such as banker Anthony Overton in 1927), science and innovation, education (for example, educator Janie Porter Barrett in 1929), religious service, and race relations.
Although awards were created in eight categories, it is best known for its impact on African-American art of the Harlem Renaissance, and particularly on the visual arts. During its existence the Harmon award was largely considered synonymous with Negro visual art:
   ...the introduction of the Harmon foundation awards in 1926, which were always dispensed with a flurry of publicity, marked the beginning of a new era for Negro visual art. With its private endowment, popular social mission, and interracial alliances, [it] possessed a much greater public relations capacity than any other prior initiatives....Due in large part to the activities of the Harmon Foundation, African Americans emerged as a distinct presence in the American art world.
Among the many recipients of the awards in literature and the fine arts were Claude McKay, Hale Woodruff, Palmer Hayden, Archibald Motley (his winning piece was The Octoroon Girl), Countee Cullen and Langston Hughes.
The awards were closely associated with an annual Exhibition of the Work of Negro Artists, conceived by Mary Brady. Exhibitions were held in 1927 through 1931, 1933, and 1935, and featured "substantial prizes" together with gold and bronze medals. According to Gates and Higginbotham, "...submissions in the fine arts category was the chief venue open to African American artists"
Awards were given solely on the basis of achievements in the previous year. The first year the awards were granted (1926) the judges of the awards proposed giving Gold award for literature to Charles W. Chesnutt, "...to acknowledge his pioneering work and continuing example to other African American writers". Their intention was to waive the requirement that the award be granted solely for works completed during the previous year. However, the Harmon Foundation did not accept this proposal, and Chesnutt never learned of this "acknowledgment of high esteem from a distinguished panel of his literary peers both black and white."
Recipients of the award in every field except race relations were required to be African American – the latter could be awarded to "...any person of American residence, regardless of color, who has made an outstanding contribution toward improving relations between the white and Negro people in America." Thus Robert Russa Moton was the first African American to receive the race relations award (in 1930). He was preceded by Will W. Alexander in 1927, and a dual award to Julius Rosenwald and James Hardy Dillard in 1927, all of whom who were Caucasian.
Gold and Bronze medals were awarded in the various categories. The Gold carried a $400 cash prize (adjusted for inflation, the 1926 prize would be worth $6,884.21 in the US dollars of 2024; the 1933 prize $9,414.91); the Bronze prize was $100. The award for race relations had a much larger honorarium: it varied between $500 and $1,000.
A description of the Bronze medal won by A.M.E. Bishop John Hurst in 1926 appeared in the January 8, 1927, edition of the Baltimore, Maryland Afro-American:
   The medal is of unusually beautiful design. On the obverse side is embossed a ship in full sail on the open sea with the inscription "Harmon Foundation" around the margin. On the reverse side are the words "Inspiration, Achievement Religious Service. Second award, 1926, John Hurst".
Administered during its first five years (1926–33) by Dr. George E. Haynes, the awards program was discontinued in 1933, which would have been the year of the 1932 awards. However, no awards had been granted in the previous year. A New York Times article in 1931 described the race relation category of the awards as "biennial".
A full list of the winners of each year was offered in contemporary New York Times articles.
| Date | Category | Award | Prize | Recipient | Notes |
| 1926 | Race relations | First Award | Gold Medal, $500 | Will W. Alexander | Director of the Commission on Interracial Cooperation |
| 1926 | Fine Arts | First Award | Gold Medal | Palmer C. Hayden | Schooners (seascape) |
| 1926 | Fine Arts | Second Award | Bronze Medal | Hale Woodruff | Two Women |
| 1926 | Literature | First Award | Gold Medal | Countee Cullen | on the basis of his first book |
| 1926 | Literature | Second Award | Bronze Medal | James Weldon Johnson | for his "introductory essay to his books on Negro Spirituals" |
| 1926 | Education | First Award | Gold Medal | Virginia Estelle Randolph | |
| 1926 | Education | Second Award | Bronze Medal | Arthur Schomberg | "for his collection of publications on Negro life and history" |
| 1926 | Industry, including business | First Award | Gold Medal | C. C. Spaulding | |
| 1926 | Industry, including business | Second Award | Bronze Medal | Archie Alexander | |
| 1926 | Religious services | First Award | Gold Medal | Max Yergan | |
| 1926 | Religious services | Second Award | Bronze Medal | Bishop John Hurst | |
| 1926 | Science, including Invention | First Award | Gold Medal | James C. Evans | for research in electrical engineering, for "two theses in regenerative circuits in radio, submitted for the bachelor's and master's degrees in engineering." |
| 1926 | Science, including Invention | Second Award | Bronze Medal | W. A. Daniel | for his social study on "The Education of Negro Ministers." |
| 1926 | Music | no awards | | | |
| 1927 | Race relations | First Award | Gold Medal, $500 | James Hardy Dillard. | President, the Jeanes Fund and the John F. Slater Fund, Charlottesville, VA |
| 1927 | Race relations | Special Award | Gold Medal | Julius Rosenwald | Philanthropist, chairman of the Board of Directors of Sears-Roebuck, Chicago, IL. |
| 1927 | Fine Arts | First Award | Gold Medal | Laura Wheeler Waring | |
| 1927 | Fine Arts | Special Award | Gold Medal | William Edouard Scott | Though Work and Guzman scrupulously document the cash awards received, no mention of a cash award is made for Scott. His was a "special award of a gold medal", falling outside of the normal scope for the award: "... because of the finished and excellent character of his paintings and the recognition already received. Mr. Scott was considered by the judges to be outside the purpose of the awards but deserving of distinction." |
| 1927 | Fine Arts | Second Award | Bronze Medal | John Wesley Hardrick | |
| 1927 | Literature | First Award | Gold Medal | James Weldon Johnson | For his poetry collection, God's Trombones. |
| 1927 | Literature | Second Award | Bronze Medal | Eric Derwent Walrond | For a collection of stories, Tropic Death. |
| 1927 | Education | First Award | Gold Medal | John Warren Davis | |
| 1927 | Education | Second Award | Bronze Medal | Benjamin Brawley | Brawley declined the award: "... a well-known educator and writer, Brawley declined the second-place award because, he said, he had never done anything but first-class work." |
| 1927 | Industry, including business | First Award | Gold Medal | Anthony Overton | |
| 1927 | Industry, including business | Second Award | Bronze Medal | William Gaston Pearson | |
| 1927 | Religious services | First Award | Gold Medal | Reverend William N. DeBerry | "distinguished service in religion and social welfare among Negroes of the United States". |
| 1927 | Religious services | Second Award | Bronze Medal | Robert E. Jones | |
| 1927 | Science, including Invention | First Award | Gold Medal | James A. Parsons | advances made with rust-resistant or non-corrosive metals: James Parsons, Jr., a metallurgist, winner of the Harmon Award in Science [in] 1927.. for many years been in charge of research and production for the Duriron Company of Dayton, Ohio. He ... holds many patents in a highly competitive field and has opened new avenues for our men" |
| 1927 | Science, including Invention | Second Award | no award | | |
| 1927 | Music | First Award | Gold Medal | R. Nathaniel Dett | for vocal and instrumental compositions. |
| 1927 | Music | First Award | Gold Medal | Clarence C. White | for work as a violinist and composer. |
| 1927 | Music | Second Award | Bronze Medal | E.H. Margetson | for work in composing orchestrations for symphonies for both instruments and voices. |
| 1927 | Music | Second Award | Bronze Medal | William Grant Still | |
| 1928 | Race relations | no award | | | |
| 1928 | Fine Arts | First Award | Gold Medal, $400 | Archibald J. Motley | of Chicago, IL, for "The Octoroon Girl" and other paintings |
| 1928 | Fine Arts | Second Award | Bronze Medal, $100 | May Howard Jackson | of Washington, D.C.l for "Bust of Dean Kelly Miller, Howard University," and other sculptures |
| 1928 | Literature | First Award | Gold Medal, $400 | Claude McKay | formerly of New York, NY, for "power, skill, and originality in verse and prose" in Harlem Shadows and Home to Harlem. |
| 1928 | Literature | Second Award | Bronze Medal, $100 | Nella Larson Imes | of New York, NY, for her novel, Quicksand |
| 1928 | Education | First Award | Gold Medal, $400 | Monroe N. Work | Tuskegee Institute, Alabama, GA, for The Negro Yearbook and Bibliography of the Negro in Africa and America. |
| 1928 | Education | Second Award | Bronze Medal, $100 | John Manuel Gandy | President, Virginia State College, Ettricks, VA, |
| 1928 | Industry, including business | First Award | Gold Medal, $400 | S.W. Rutherford | of Washington, DC, Secretary & Business Manager of the National Benefit Life Insurance Company. |
| 1928 | Industry, including business | Second Award | Bronze Medal, $100 | Frederick Massiah | of Philadelphia, PA, for "outstanding work in building engineering, especially concrete construction." |
| 1928 | Religious services | First Award | Gold Medal, $400 | Lacy Kirk Williams | Rev. Dr. of Chicago, IL |
| 1928 | Religious services | First Award | Gold Medal, $400 | James Solomon Russell | Archdeacon of the Episcopal Diocese of Southern Virginia, Lawrenceville, VA |
| 1928 | Religious services | Second Award | Bronze Medal, $100 | Channing H. Tobias | Secretary of the National Council of the YMCA, New York, NY |
| 1928 | Science, including Invention | no awards | | | |
| 1928 | Music | First Award | no award | | |
| 1928 | Music | Second Award | Bronze Medal | J. Harold Brown | Musical Director, Attucks High School, Indianapolis, IN |
| 1928 | Honorable Mentions | | | Albert Alexander Smith | of New York, NY |
| 1928 | Honorable Mentions | | | Malvin Gray Johnson | of New York, NY |
| 1928 | Honorable Mentions | | | James L. Allen | of New York, NY |
| 1928 | Honorable Mentions | | | E.T. McDowell | of New York, NY |
| 1929 | Race relations | First Award | Gold Medal, $1000 | Robert Russa Moton | Principal of Tuskegee Institute in Alabama, GA (first black recipient in this category) |
| 1929 | Fine Arts | First Award | Gold Medal, $400 | William H. Johnson | of New York, NY |
| 1929 | Fine Arts | Second Award | Bronze Medal, $100 | Albert Alexander Smith | of Manhasset, L.I., NY |
| 1929 | Fine Arts | Second Award | Bronze Medal, $100 | Sargent Johnson | of Berkeley, CA |
| 1929 | Literature | First Award | no award | | |
| 1929 | Literature | Second Award | Bronze Medal, $100 | Walter Francis White | Rope and Faggot: A Biography of Judge Lynch, of New York, NY |
| 1929 | Education | First Award | Gold Medal, $400 | William Jasper Hale | President, Agricultural & Industrial State College, Nashville, Tennessee |
| 1929 | Education | First Award | Gold Medal, $400 | John Hope | President, Atlanta University, GA |
| 1929 | Education | Second Award | Bronze Medal, $100 | Janie Porter Barrett | of Peak's Turn out, VA |
| 1929 | Industry, including business | First Award | Gold Medal, $400 | Truman K. Gibson | Merged three companies to form The Supreme Life Liberty Insurance Company, Chicago, IL |
| 1929 | Industry, including business | Second Award | Bronze Medal, $100 | John Charles Claybrook | of Proctor, AK |
| 1929 | Religious services | First Award | Gold Medal, $400 | Bishop Robert E. Jones | Bishop of the Methodist Episcopal Church, New Orleans, LA |
| 1929 | Religious services | Second Award | Bronze Medal, $100 | A. Clayton Powell | of New York, NY |
| 1929 | Science, including Invention | First Award | Gold Medal, $400 | Theodore K. Lawless | Dermatologist, Research and Lecture Fellow at the Northwestern University, Chicago, IL |
| 1929 | Science, including Invention | Second Award | no award | | |
| 1929 | Music | First Award | Gold Medal, $400 | Harry Thacker Burleigh | Soloist, St. George Episcopal Church, New York, NY, Lecturer on Negro Music, Arranger of Negro Spirituals |
| 1929 | Music | First Award | Gold Medal, $400 | Harry Lawrence Freeman | Composer of the first Negro Opera, New York, NY |
| 1929 | Music | Second Award | Bronze Medal, $100 | Carl Rossini Diton | of New York, NY |
| 1930 | Race relations | no awards | | | |
| 1930 | Fine Arts | First Award | Gold Medal, $400 | James Lesesne Wells | for The Wanderers |
| 1930 | Literature | First Award | Gold Medal | Langston Hughes | for Not Without Laughter |
| 1930 | Education | First Award | Gold Medal | Henry A. Hunt | |
| 1930 | Industry, including business | First Award | Gold Medal | Albon Holsey | |
| 1930 | Religious services | First Award | Gold Medal, $400 | Henry C. McDowell | |
| 1930 | Science, including Invention | First Award | Gold Medal | Charles S. Johnson | |
| 1930 | Music | First Award | Gold Medal | Hall Johnson | |
| 1930 | Agriculture | First Award | Gold Medal | Thomas Monroe Campbell | "the first Harmon Award ever presented for distinguished achievement in the field of farming and rural life." |

## Award Catalogues/Publications

* Exhibition of Fine Art by American Negro Artists (1928)
* Catalogue of an Exhibition of Paintings and Sculpture by American Negro Artists at the National Gallery of Art (1929)
* Exhibition of Fine Art by American Negro Artists (1930)
* Exhibition of Productions by Negro Artists (1933)