The beginning of the nineteenth century marked a major growth of art in America and the beginning of art as a profession. Hale Aspacio Woodruff was born August 26, 1900 in Cairo, Illinois. Woodruff worked through the depths of the Great Depression in order to find a teaching job that would influence the poor students of Atlanta. His watercolor works focused on the social and economic problems of the African American population. His views on art changed quickly, as he observed the treatment of the suffering African-American's in the South, with their one-crop economy.
Hale Woodruff was the only child of Augusta and George Woodruff. George, however, died shortly after Hale's birth. Hale and his mother moved to Nashville, Tennessee in the early 1900's. While his mother was at work, she needed to occupy his time and had him copy pictures out of the family Bible. His interest in art began to intensify, spending his days copying pictures of anything he could possibly find. His interest in art led him to become the cartoonist for his high school newspaper. (Carlin).
After graduating high school, he landed a hotel job in Indianapolis, and began his first official art schooling. He learned at the Herron Art Institute, which had a total of forty students. In exchange for his work as a desk clerk at the local "colored" YMCA, they gave him a room. While staying at the YMCA, he met several prominent African-American leaders, like Walter White of the NAACP, who influenced him to reach for his goals. He became good friends with Herman Lieber, who owned a local art supply store. In 1923, Lieber gave Woodruff a book on African art, Afrikanische Plastik, which influenced him to investigate modern art, while using traditional attitudes. From his learning's, he was influenced by many different styles of art, from African art to the Renaissance Frescoes. (Carlin).
In 1926, Woodruff became the first recipient of the Harmon Foundation Award presented to African Americans for distinguished achievements in the fine arts.