Franklin Gritts
Encyclopedia
Franklin Gritts, also known as Oau Nah Jusah, or They Have Returned, (August 8, 1915 – November 8, 1996) was a Cherokee
artist best known for his contributions to the "Golden Era" of Native American
art, both as a teacher and an artist.
During World War II, he served on The USS Franklin
, the most damaged ship in the history of the U.S. Navy to return to port. He survived the devastating kamikaze
attack on March 19, 1945, but suffered injuries, earning the Purple Heart
.
Later in life, he worked as the art director for the Sporting News, the "Bible of Baseball."
in 1915. His father, George Gritts, a full-blood Cherokee
whose name is on the Dawes Roll, was a traditionalist and attended Cherokee
religious ceremonies in the Cookson Hills
. His mother was Rachel Gritts (née Duck), a full-blood Cherokee
who is also listed in the Dawes Roll. George’s father, Anderson (A.W.) Gritts, was an officer of the Eastern Emigrant and Western Cherokee Association and supported lobbying efforts in Washington D.C. for the Cherokee
s regarding land and oil rights early in the 20th century. This association was a divergent of the Original Keetoowah Society
, a religious and cultural traditionist group with roots going back to the 1850s. The Eastern Emigrant and Western Cherokee Association held one of its meetings at George Gritts’ farm over several days in August 1920, with people arriving on foot, horseback, in wagons, and a few in cars. They set up a camp in his fields. Gritts’ first memory is of this event as he thought all these people had come for his fifth birthday on August 8.
Rachel and George were not eager to send their only child to school in Vian
, as they had lost several children through miscarriages and early childhood death. They kept Gritts at home until he was eight years old. School authorities finally insisted that he attend school and his parents reluctantly agreed. Although he could speak little English and was older than the other first-graders, he loved school from the beginning. Thanks to capable and caring teachers, he was able to catch up with his age group after a couple of years. The majority of the students were non-Indian but they quickly made friends with the shy newcomer. Gritts showed an early talent for art and this ability added to his popularity. By the time he reached high school, Gritts was active in sports and had bridged the gap between his home and his school life.
interviewed him and offered to recommend him to Bacone College
, at that time a Baptist
junior college for qualified Indian students located in nearby Muskogee, Oklahoma
. He readily accepted and spent two years at Bacone College
, where Indian art was an important part of the curriculum. He advanced so well in his artwork and other studies that the Bureau of Indian Affairs
offered him a loan to attend the University of Oklahoma
at Norman, Oklahoma
. This was a big leap to contemplate, from being part of a small, comfortable college close to home to tackling the huge and overwhelming state university. He did not hesitate, however, because he realized what a great opportunity it was. The country was in the grip of the Great Depression
and money was very scarce, almost non-existent in rural Oklahoma
. He could never have aspired to enroll at the university without the government loan and the encouragement of the recruiters from the Indian Service.
The dean of the School of Fine Arts at the university, Dr. O. B. Jacobson, was a Swedish
man who appreciated Indian art and valued his students of Indian descent. Nevertheless, he held them to the high standards of the Fine Arts curriculum and granted them no special concessions. He encouraged them to develop their Indian art as an independent assignment. Thus, Gritts took portrait painting, figure painting, art appreciation and other facets of fine art as well as the required general courses.
Indian School in Anadarko, Oklahoma. After a year there, he transferred to Haskell Institute
in Lawrence, Kansas
, where he taught Indian art in the high school and two-year post-high school divisions. This was quite an advancement for Gritts, as Haskell was the premier Indian school in the nation, drawing students from many different tribes and from almost every state. He had small classes and was able to give individual attention to his students.
In June 1940, he married Geraldine Monroe whom he had met as a student at the University of Oklahoma
. Along with teaching, he also painted murals in various buildings on the campus. He was commissioned to do an oil portrait of Peter Graves, a noted Chippewa chief, to be placed in a Navy ship.
and in 1943 Gritts left sheltered campus life, entered the Navy
, and experienced a whole new world. First, he was sent to the great inland training base at Farragut, Idaho, for rigorous basic training and then to Pensacola, Florida
, for aerial photography school, a fascinating new field for him, but one that separated him from his Indian art. Never again did he pursue Indian art as a full-time occupation in spite of his recognized talent in this area.
After Pensacola
, he was assigned to the USS Franklin
, an aircraft carrier
operating in the Pacific theater of the war. He boarded ship at Oakland, California
, and it slowly made its way toward the shore of Japan
. En route, he took pictures and developed them in the darkroom. He also did occasional artwork such as lettering, illustrations, sign painting and airbrush work. On March 19, 1945, fifty miles off the shore of Japan
, the ship was preparing for the attack. The deck was covered with aircraft and the bombs being loaded aboard. Suddenly, a Japanese kamikaze
plane appeared and crashed into the deck, igniting the bombs and causing numerous explosions, killing 798 sailors and Marines. It was the worst disaster the U.S. Navy had ever sustained. Miraculously, the ship did not sink, although it was heavily damaged and thought to be destroyed.
Gritts was in a passageway near the deck when the ship was hit and was wounded in the left leg and foot by shrapnel. He managed to climb out of a porthole into the sea below and was picked up by a life raft of other survivors. They spent a cold night on the raft, drifting away from the stricken ship and, as the sun set, saw it disappear on the horizon, listing badly. Shortly after daylight, they were rescued by a destroyer and Gritts received some basic first aid. He also began his long “hitch-hike” across the Pacific, being transferred to any ship heading home to the United States. Unfortunately, some of these ships were ordered back into the fighting zone and he had to be re-routed when a ship going out of the area appeared.
His transfers from ship to ship on the turbulent seas were accomplished by heavy cable anchored on each ship. His stretcher was attached to the cables and he was pulled over the water. Finally arriving in Hawaii
, Gritts was able to call home just as the news of the USS Franklin
disaster was announced, after a long period of censorship. In Hawaii
, he received his first extensive medical treatment, which revealed that an infection had set in the tibia bone of his left leg, and he had lost a toe on that foot. After a couple of weeks, he set sail again, this time on a hospital ship headed for Oakland, where he was transferred to a hospital train for Farragut, Idaho, the training camp which had been turned into a hospital. He was a patient in this hospital for more than a year, during which time the war ended.
Gritts faced more medical treatment at the Great Lakes Hospital in Chicago
as the infection in the tibia continued to drain and would not heal. To pass the time during his hospital stay, he developed a style of modern illustration and cartoons for the amusement of his fellow patients. Some of his work was published in service publications.
Upon his recovery and release from Great Lakes, he returned to Haskell in 1946. The nation was still in the process of rebuilding after WWII, when home construction and civilian manufacturing had been converted to the production of war materials of all kinds. The waves of returning veterans were being retrained for civilian life, many of them attending college under the G.I. Bill.
Gritts could see the need for commercial art training for talented students and transformed his classes accordingly. He did, however, continue to help and encourage serious students of Indian art to pursue this interest. He also continued his own passion for photography. With no blueprint to follow, he developed a commercial art curriculum. He spent one summer at the Art Institute of Chicago
and took after-school classes at the University of Kansas
to attain state teaching certification. Haskell was upgrading its status to become a member of the North Central Association of Colleges and Schools
.
One of Gritts’ students after the war was Adam Fortunate Eagle
Nordwall. He said it was a turning point when Gritts returned after the war and began teaching commercial art. Adam Fortunate Eagle
was able to find employment as a commercial artist with the skills he learned at Haskel]. Years later in 1968, Adam Fortunate Eagle
was named by the FBI as the principal organizer of the Indian occupation of Alcatraz after it ceased being used as a prison by the federal government
.
. He answered a newspaper advertisement for the position of art director of The Sporting News
in 1955.
Established in 1886, The Sporting News
was a newspaper distributed nationwide and was the outstanding baseball weekly of enthusiastic fans. Full of baseball news, stories, and statistics, it became known as the "Baseball Bible." It was still going strong in 1955 and had added a monthly magazine, The Sporting Goods Dealer, a glossy, full-color trade magazine for sporting goods stores carrying many lucrative ads.
Gritts’ work on the paper involved pasting up articles, photographs and ads for each page, and original artwork on the front page. The weekly deadlines were crucial, but he always managed to get the paper out on time. He also prepared The Sporting Goods Dealer for publication each month.
He died in November 1996 and is buried at Jefferson Barracks National Cemetery
.
bought one of Gritts’ paintings. Gritts’ art is displayed at the Gilcrease Museum
and the Philbrook Museum of Art
in Tulsa, Oklahoma. It is also in the collection of at the Fred Jones Jr. Museum of Art
, University of Oklahoma
, National Cowboy & Western Heritage Museum
, Oklahoma City
, and the Muskogee Public Library, Muskogee, Oklahoma
.
Gritts painted a large mural on four walls gracing the entrance to the auditorium at Haskell Indian Nations University
. His oil painting of the great Sequoyah
, who invented the Cherokee syllabary
, is located there as well. The appreciation of Native American art which Gritts help to establish continues at Haskell to this day. Currently, Haskell Indian Art Market, a festival of two days, draws 30,000 people.
He illustrated the back cover of Grant Foreman's The Five Civilized Tribes: a Brief History and a Century of Progress, published in 1948. Some of Gritts’ work resides in private collections. The Cherokee, A New True Book, by Emilie U. Lepthien, published in 1985, calls Gritts a famous Cherokee
.
Cherokee
The Cherokee are a Native American people historically settled in the Southeastern United States . Linguistically, they are part of the Iroquoian language family...
artist best known for his contributions to the "Golden Era" of Native American
Native Americans in the United States
Native Americans in the United States are the indigenous peoples in North America within the boundaries of the present-day continental United States, parts of Alaska, and the island state of Hawaii. They are composed of numerous, distinct tribes, states, and ethnic groups, many of which survive as...
art, both as a teacher and an artist.
During World War II, he served on The USS Franklin
USS Franklin
USS Franklin may refer to: was a 6-gun schooner, fitted out in 1775 and returned to the owner in 1776 was an 8-gun brig built in 1795, captured by corsairs from Tripoli in 1802, bought back by the Navy in 1805, and sold in 1807 was a 74-gun ship of the line launched in 1815 and broken up in 1852...
, the most damaged ship in the history of the U.S. Navy to return to port. He survived the devastating kamikaze
Kamikaze
The were suicide attacks by military aviators from the Empire of Japan against Allied naval vessels in the closing stages of the Pacific campaign of World War II, designed to destroy as many warships as possible....
attack on March 19, 1945, but suffered injuries, earning the Purple Heart
Purple Heart
The Purple Heart is a United States military decoration awarded in the name of the President to those who have been wounded or killed while serving on or after April 5, 1917 with the U.S. military. The National Purple Heart Hall of Honor is located in New Windsor, New York...
.
Later in life, he worked as the art director for the Sporting News, the "Bible of Baseball."
Early life
Gritts was born in Vian, OklahomaVian, Oklahoma
Vian is a town in Sequoyah County, Oklahoma, United States. It is part of the Fort Smith, Arkansas-Oklahoma Metropolitan Statistical Area. The population was 1,362 at the 2000 census. It has three highways running through it: SH 82, or Thornton Street; U.S. 64, or Schley Street; and I-40. It is...
in 1915. His father, George Gritts, a full-blood Cherokee
Cherokee
The Cherokee are a Native American people historically settled in the Southeastern United States . Linguistically, they are part of the Iroquoian language family...
whose name is on the Dawes Roll, was a traditionalist and attended Cherokee
Cherokee
The Cherokee are a Native American people historically settled in the Southeastern United States . Linguistically, they are part of the Iroquoian language family...
religious ceremonies in the Cookson Hills
Cookson Hills
The Cookson Hills are in the eastern part of Oklahoma. They are an extension of the Boston Mountains of Arkansas to the east and the southwestern margin of the Ozark Plateau. They lie generally between Stilwell, Oklahoma, Sallisaw, Oklahoma and Tahlequah, Oklahoma. The area became part of the...
. His mother was Rachel Gritts (née Duck), a full-blood Cherokee
Cherokee
The Cherokee are a Native American people historically settled in the Southeastern United States . Linguistically, they are part of the Iroquoian language family...
who is also listed in the Dawes Roll. George’s father, Anderson (A.W.) Gritts, was an officer of the Eastern Emigrant and Western Cherokee Association and supported lobbying efforts in Washington D.C. for the Cherokee
Cherokee
The Cherokee are a Native American people historically settled in the Southeastern United States . Linguistically, they are part of the Iroquoian language family...
s regarding land and oil rights early in the 20th century. This association was a divergent of the Original Keetoowah Society
Original Keetoowah Society
The Original Keetoowah Society is a Cherokee religious organization that preserves the culture and teachings of the Keetoowah Nighthawk Society in Oklahoma....
, a religious and cultural traditionist group with roots going back to the 1850s. The Eastern Emigrant and Western Cherokee Association held one of its meetings at George Gritts’ farm over several days in August 1920, with people arriving on foot, horseback, in wagons, and a few in cars. They set up a camp in his fields. Gritts’ first memory is of this event as he thought all these people had come for his fifth birthday on August 8.
Rachel and George were not eager to send their only child to school in Vian
Vian
Vian may refer to:* Vian, Oklahoma, a town located in Sequoyah County, Oklahoma.* Vian, Norway, a town located in Vestvågøy, Norway.* Sir Philip Vian , admiral in the Royal Navy.* Boris Vian , French writer, poet, singer, and musician....
, as they had lost several children through miscarriages and early childhood death. They kept Gritts at home until he was eight years old. School authorities finally insisted that he attend school and his parents reluctantly agreed. Although he could speak little English and was older than the other first-graders, he loved school from the beginning. Thanks to capable and caring teachers, he was able to catch up with his age group after a couple of years. The majority of the students were non-Indian but they quickly made friends with the shy newcomer. Gritts showed an early talent for art and this ability added to his popularity. By the time he reached high school, Gritts was active in sports and had bridged the gap between his home and his school life.
College
When Gritts was a high school senior, officials from the Bureau of Indian AffairsBureau of Indian Affairs
The Bureau of Indian Affairs is an agency of the federal government of the United States within the US Department of the Interior. It is responsible for the administration and management of of land held in trust by the United States for Native Americans in the United States, Native American...
interviewed him and offered to recommend him to Bacone College
Bacone College
Bacone College is a private four-year liberal arts college in Muskogee, Oklahoma. Founded in 1880 as the Indian University by Almon C. Bacone, Bacone College is the oldest continuously operated institution of higher education in Oklahoma...
, at that time a Baptist
Baptist
Baptists comprise a group of Christian denominations and churches that subscribe to a doctrine that baptism should be performed only for professing believers , and that it must be done by immersion...
junior college for qualified Indian students located in nearby Muskogee, Oklahoma
Muskogee, Oklahoma
Muskogee is a city in Muskogee County, Oklahoma, United States. It is the county seat of Muskogee County, and home to Bacone College. The population was 38,310 at the 2000 census, making it the eleventh-largest city in Oklahoma....
. He readily accepted and spent two years at Bacone College
Bacone College
Bacone College is a private four-year liberal arts college in Muskogee, Oklahoma. Founded in 1880 as the Indian University by Almon C. Bacone, Bacone College is the oldest continuously operated institution of higher education in Oklahoma...
, where Indian art was an important part of the curriculum. He advanced so well in his artwork and other studies that the Bureau of Indian Affairs
Bureau of Indian Affairs
The Bureau of Indian Affairs is an agency of the federal government of the United States within the US Department of the Interior. It is responsible for the administration and management of of land held in trust by the United States for Native Americans in the United States, Native American...
offered him a loan to attend the University of Oklahoma
University of Oklahoma
The University of Oklahoma is a coeducational public research university located in Norman, Oklahoma. Founded in 1890, it existed in Oklahoma Territory near Indian Territory for 17 years before the two became the state of Oklahoma. the university had 29,931 students enrolled, most located at its...
at Norman, Oklahoma
Norman, Oklahoma
Norman is a city in Cleveland County, Oklahoma, United States, and is located south of downtown Oklahoma City. It is part of the Oklahoma City metropolitan area. As of the 2010 census, Norman was to have 110,925 full-time residents, making it the third-largest city in Oklahoma and the...
. This was a big leap to contemplate, from being part of a small, comfortable college close to home to tackling the huge and overwhelming state university. He did not hesitate, however, because he realized what a great opportunity it was. The country was in the grip of the Great Depression
Great Depression
The Great Depression was a severe worldwide economic depression in the decade preceding World War II. The timing of the Great Depression varied across nations, but in most countries it started in about 1929 and lasted until the late 1930s or early 1940s...
and money was very scarce, almost non-existent in rural Oklahoma
Oklahoma
Oklahoma is a state located in the South Central region of the United States of America. With an estimated 3,751,351 residents as of the 2010 census and a land area of 68,667 square miles , Oklahoma is the 28th most populous and 20th-largest state...
. He could never have aspired to enroll at the university without the government loan and the encouragement of the recruiters from the Indian Service.
The dean of the School of Fine Arts at the university, Dr. O. B. Jacobson, was a Swedish
Sweden
Sweden , officially the Kingdom of Sweden , is a Nordic country on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. Sweden borders with Norway and Finland and is connected to Denmark by a bridge-tunnel across the Öresund....
man who appreciated Indian art and valued his students of Indian descent. Nevertheless, he held them to the high standards of the Fine Arts curriculum and granted them no special concessions. He encouraged them to develop their Indian art as an independent assignment. Thus, Gritts took portrait painting, figure painting, art appreciation and other facets of fine art as well as the required general courses.
Teaching
Upon his graduation, Gritts was offered a teaching position at the Fort SillFort Sill
Fort Sill is a United States Army post near Lawton, Oklahoma, about 85 miles southwest of Oklahoma City.Today, Fort Sill remains the only active Army installation of all the forts on the South Plains built during the Indian Wars...
Indian School in Anadarko, Oklahoma. After a year there, he transferred to Haskell Institute
Haskell Indian Nations University
Haskell Indian Nations University is a tribal university located in Lawrence, Kansas, for members of federally recognized Native American tribes in the United States...
in Lawrence, Kansas
Lawrence, Kansas
Lawrence is the sixth largest city in the U.S. State of Kansas and the county seat of Douglas County. Located in northeastern Kansas, Lawrence is the anchor city of the Lawrence, Kansas, Metropolitan Statistical Area, which encompasses all of Douglas County...
, where he taught Indian art in the high school and two-year post-high school divisions. This was quite an advancement for Gritts, as Haskell was the premier Indian school in the nation, drawing students from many different tribes and from almost every state. He had small classes and was able to give individual attention to his students.
In June 1940, he married Geraldine Monroe whom he had met as a student at the University of Oklahoma
University of Oklahoma
The University of Oklahoma is a coeducational public research university located in Norman, Oklahoma. Founded in 1890, it existed in Oklahoma Territory near Indian Territory for 17 years before the two became the state of Oklahoma. the university had 29,931 students enrolled, most located at its...
. Along with teaching, he also painted murals in various buildings on the campus. He was commissioned to do an oil portrait of Peter Graves, a noted Chippewa chief, to be placed in a Navy ship.
World War II
This tranquil part of his career did not last long. The United States entered World War IIWorld War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
and in 1943 Gritts left sheltered campus life, entered the Navy
Navy
A navy is the branch of a nation's armed forces principally designated for naval and amphibious warfare; namely, lake- or ocean-borne combat operations and related functions...
, and experienced a whole new world. First, he was sent to the great inland training base at Farragut, Idaho, for rigorous basic training and then to Pensacola, Florida
Pensacola, Florida
Pensacola is the westernmost city in the Florida Panhandle and the county seat of Escambia County, Florida, United States of America. As of the 2000 census, the city had a total population of 56,255 and as of 2009, the estimated population was 53,752...
, for aerial photography school, a fascinating new field for him, but one that separated him from his Indian art. Never again did he pursue Indian art as a full-time occupation in spite of his recognized talent in this area.
After Pensacola
Pensacola
Pensacola is a city in the western part of the U.S. state of Florida.Pensacola may also refer to:* Pensacola people, a group of Native Americans* A number of places in the Florida:** Pensacola Bay** Pensacola Regional Airport...
, he was assigned to the USS Franklin
USS Franklin
USS Franklin may refer to: was a 6-gun schooner, fitted out in 1775 and returned to the owner in 1776 was an 8-gun brig built in 1795, captured by corsairs from Tripoli in 1802, bought back by the Navy in 1805, and sold in 1807 was a 74-gun ship of the line launched in 1815 and broken up in 1852...
, an aircraft carrier
Aircraft carrier
An aircraft carrier is a warship designed with a primary mission of deploying and recovering aircraft, acting as a seagoing airbase. Aircraft carriers thus allow a naval force to project air power worldwide without having to depend on local bases for staging aircraft operations...
operating in the Pacific theater of the war. He boarded ship at Oakland, California
Oakland, California
Oakland is a major West Coast port city on San Francisco Bay in the U.S. state of California. It is the eighth-largest city in the state with a 2010 population of 390,724...
, and it slowly made its way toward the shore of Japan
Japan
Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...
. En route, he took pictures and developed them in the darkroom. He also did occasional artwork such as lettering, illustrations, sign painting and airbrush work. On March 19, 1945, fifty miles off the shore of Japan
Japan
Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...
, the ship was preparing for the attack. The deck was covered with aircraft and the bombs being loaded aboard. Suddenly, a Japanese kamikaze
Kamikaze
The were suicide attacks by military aviators from the Empire of Japan against Allied naval vessels in the closing stages of the Pacific campaign of World War II, designed to destroy as many warships as possible....
plane appeared and crashed into the deck, igniting the bombs and causing numerous explosions, killing 798 sailors and Marines. It was the worst disaster the U.S. Navy had ever sustained. Miraculously, the ship did not sink, although it was heavily damaged and thought to be destroyed.
Gritts was in a passageway near the deck when the ship was hit and was wounded in the left leg and foot by shrapnel. He managed to climb out of a porthole into the sea below and was picked up by a life raft of other survivors. They spent a cold night on the raft, drifting away from the stricken ship and, as the sun set, saw it disappear on the horizon, listing badly. Shortly after daylight, they were rescued by a destroyer and Gritts received some basic first aid. He also began his long “hitch-hike” across the Pacific, being transferred to any ship heading home to the United States. Unfortunately, some of these ships were ordered back into the fighting zone and he had to be re-routed when a ship going out of the area appeared.
His transfers from ship to ship on the turbulent seas were accomplished by heavy cable anchored on each ship. His stretcher was attached to the cables and he was pulled over the water. Finally arriving in Hawaii
Hawaii
Hawaii is the newest of the 50 U.S. states , and is the only U.S. state made up entirely of islands. It is the northernmost island group in Polynesia, occupying most of an archipelago in the central Pacific Ocean, southwest of the continental United States, southeast of Japan, and northeast of...
, Gritts was able to call home just as the news of the USS Franklin
USS Franklin
USS Franklin may refer to: was a 6-gun schooner, fitted out in 1775 and returned to the owner in 1776 was an 8-gun brig built in 1795, captured by corsairs from Tripoli in 1802, bought back by the Navy in 1805, and sold in 1807 was a 74-gun ship of the line launched in 1815 and broken up in 1852...
disaster was announced, after a long period of censorship. In Hawaii
Hawaii
Hawaii is the newest of the 50 U.S. states , and is the only U.S. state made up entirely of islands. It is the northernmost island group in Polynesia, occupying most of an archipelago in the central Pacific Ocean, southwest of the continental United States, southeast of Japan, and northeast of...
, he received his first extensive medical treatment, which revealed that an infection had set in the tibia bone of his left leg, and he had lost a toe on that foot. After a couple of weeks, he set sail again, this time on a hospital ship headed for Oakland, where he was transferred to a hospital train for Farragut, Idaho, the training camp which had been turned into a hospital. He was a patient in this hospital for more than a year, during which time the war ended.
Gritts faced more medical treatment at the Great Lakes Hospital in Chicago
Chicago
Chicago is the largest city in the US state of Illinois. With nearly 2.7 million residents, it is the most populous city in the Midwestern United States and the third most populous in the US, after New York City and Los Angeles...
as the infection in the tibia continued to drain and would not heal. To pass the time during his hospital stay, he developed a style of modern illustration and cartoons for the amusement of his fellow patients. Some of his work was published in service publications.
Upon his recovery and release from Great Lakes, he returned to Haskell in 1946. The nation was still in the process of rebuilding after WWII, when home construction and civilian manufacturing had been converted to the production of war materials of all kinds. The waves of returning veterans were being retrained for civilian life, many of them attending college under the G.I. Bill.
Return to teaching
At Haskell, the atmosphere was charged with the excitement of the times. The traditional Academic Department remained much the same, but the Business and Vocational Departments were responding to the demands of the modern world. The Indian students flocking in from around the nation needed to "Learn to Earn."Gritts could see the need for commercial art training for talented students and transformed his classes accordingly. He did, however, continue to help and encourage serious students of Indian art to pursue this interest. He also continued his own passion for photography. With no blueprint to follow, he developed a commercial art curriculum. He spent one summer at the Art Institute of Chicago
Art Institute of Chicago
The School of the Art Institute of Chicago is one of America's largest accredited independent schools of art and design, located in the Loop in Chicago, Illinois. It is associated with the museum of the same name, and "The Art Institute of Chicago" or "Chicago Art Institute" often refers to either...
and took after-school classes at the University of Kansas
University of Kansas
The University of Kansas is a public research university and the largest university in the state of Kansas. KU campuses are located in Lawrence, Wichita, Overland Park, and Kansas City, Kansas with the main campus being located in Lawrence on Mount Oread, the highest point in Lawrence. The...
to attain state teaching certification. Haskell was upgrading its status to become a member of the North Central Association of Colleges and Schools
North Central Association of Colleges and Schools
The North Central Association of Colleges and Schools , also known as the North Central Association, is a membership organization, consisting of colleges, universities, and schools in 19 U.S. states, that is engaged in educational accreditation...
.
One of Gritts’ students after the war was Adam Fortunate Eagle
Adam Fortunate Eagle
Adam Fortunate Eagle , hereditary member of the Ojibwa Nation, is a Native American activist and was the principal organizer of the 1969-71 occupation of Alcatraz Island by "Indians of All Tribes."-Early life:...
Nordwall. He said it was a turning point when Gritts returned after the war and began teaching commercial art. Adam Fortunate Eagle
Adam Fortunate Eagle
Adam Fortunate Eagle , hereditary member of the Ojibwa Nation, is a Native American activist and was the principal organizer of the 1969-71 occupation of Alcatraz Island by "Indians of All Tribes."-Early life:...
was able to find employment as a commercial artist with the skills he learned at Haskel]. Years later in 1968, Adam Fortunate Eagle
Adam Fortunate Eagle
Adam Fortunate Eagle , hereditary member of the Ojibwa Nation, is a Native American activist and was the principal organizer of the 1969-71 occupation of Alcatraz Island by "Indians of All Tribes."-Early life:...
was named by the FBI as the principal organizer of the Indian occupation of Alcatraz after it ceased being used as a prison by the federal government
Federal government
The federal government is the common government of a federation. The structure of federal governments varies from institution to institution. Based on a broad definition of a basic federal political system, there are two or more levels of government that exist within an established territory and...
.
Sporting News
After five years at Haskell, Gritts decided to try his own hand at commercial art. Housing was tight on campus, where employees were required to live, and he felt the possibilities inadequate for his growing family which would eventually include a daughter, Dara Stillman, and two sons, Bob Gritts and Galen Gritts. He resigned his position and moved his family to St. Louis, MissouriSt. Louis, Missouri
St. Louis is an independent city on the eastern border of Missouri, United States. With a population of 319,294, it was the 58th-largest U.S. city at the 2010 U.S. Census. The Greater St...
. He answered a newspaper advertisement for the position of art director of The Sporting News
The Sporting News
Sporting News is an American-based sports magazine. It was established in 1886, and it became the dominant American publication covering baseball — so much so that it acquired the nickname "The Bible of Baseball"...
in 1955.
Established in 1886, The Sporting News
The Sporting News
Sporting News is an American-based sports magazine. It was established in 1886, and it became the dominant American publication covering baseball — so much so that it acquired the nickname "The Bible of Baseball"...
was a newspaper distributed nationwide and was the outstanding baseball weekly of enthusiastic fans. Full of baseball news, stories, and statistics, it became known as the "Baseball Bible." It was still going strong in 1955 and had added a monthly magazine, The Sporting Goods Dealer, a glossy, full-color trade magazine for sporting goods stores carrying many lucrative ads.
Gritts’ work on the paper involved pasting up articles, photographs and ads for each page, and original artwork on the front page. The weekly deadlines were crucial, but he always managed to get the paper out on time. He also prepared The Sporting Goods Dealer for publication each month.
He died in November 1996 and is buried at Jefferson Barracks National Cemetery
Jefferson Barracks National Cemetery
- External links :**...
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Legacy
Among others, First Lady Eleanor RooseveltEleanor Roosevelt
Anna Eleanor Roosevelt was the First Lady of the United States from 1933 to 1945. She supported the New Deal policies of her husband, distant cousin Franklin Delano Roosevelt, and became an advocate for civil rights. After her husband's death in 1945, Roosevelt continued to be an international...
bought one of Gritts’ paintings. Gritts’ art is displayed at the Gilcrease Museum
Gilcrease Museum
Gilcrease Museum is a museum located northwest of downtown Tulsa, Oklahoma. The museum now houses the world's largest, most comprehensive collection of art of the American West as well as a growing collection of art and artifacts from Central and South America...
and the Philbrook Museum of Art
Philbrook Museum of Art
The Philbrook Museum of Art in Tulsa, Oklahoma is an art museum and former home of Oklahoma oil pioneer Waite Phillips and his wife Genevieve Phillips. , the museum has a staff of 60 and an operating budget of nearly $6 million....
in Tulsa, Oklahoma. It is also in the collection of at the Fred Jones Jr. Museum of Art
Fred Jones Jr. Museum of Art
The Fred Jones Jr. Museum of Art is an art museum on the University of Oklahoma campus in Norman, Oklahoma.-Overview:The University of Oklahoma’s Fred Jones Jr. Museum of Art is one of the finest university art museums in the United States. Strengths of the nearly 16,000-object permanent collection...
, University of Oklahoma
University of Oklahoma
The University of Oklahoma is a coeducational public research university located in Norman, Oklahoma. Founded in 1890, it existed in Oklahoma Territory near Indian Territory for 17 years before the two became the state of Oklahoma. the university had 29,931 students enrolled, most located at its...
, National Cowboy & Western Heritage Museum
National Cowboy & Western Heritage Museum
The National Cowboy & Western Heritage Museum is a museum in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, with more than 28,000 Western and American Indian art works and artifacts. The facility also has the world's most extensive collection of American rodeo, photographs, barbed wire, saddlery, and early rodeo trophies...
, Oklahoma City
Oklahoma city
Oklahoma City is the capital and largest city of the U.S. state of Oklahoma.Oklahoma City may also refer to:*Oklahoma City metropolitan area*Downtown Oklahoma City*Uptown Oklahoma City*Oklahoma City bombing*Oklahoma City National Memorial...
, and the Muskogee Public Library, Muskogee, Oklahoma
Muskogee, Oklahoma
Muskogee is a city in Muskogee County, Oklahoma, United States. It is the county seat of Muskogee County, and home to Bacone College. The population was 38,310 at the 2000 census, making it the eleventh-largest city in Oklahoma....
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Gritts painted a large mural on four walls gracing the entrance to the auditorium at Haskell Indian Nations University
Haskell Indian Nations University
Haskell Indian Nations University is a tribal university located in Lawrence, Kansas, for members of federally recognized Native American tribes in the United States...
. His oil painting of the great Sequoyah
Sequoyah
Sequoyah , named in English George Gist or George Guess, was a Cherokee silversmith. In 1821 he completed his independent creation of a Cherokee syllabary, making reading and writing in Cherokee possible...
, who invented the Cherokee syllabary
Cherokee syllabary
The Cherokee syllabary is a syllabary invented by Sequoyah to write the Cherokee language in the late 1810s and early 1820s. His creation of the syllabary is particularly noteworthy in that he could not previously read any script. He first experimented with logograms, but his system later developed...
, is located there as well. The appreciation of Native American art which Gritts help to establish continues at Haskell to this day. Currently, Haskell Indian Art Market, a festival of two days, draws 30,000 people.
He illustrated the back cover of Grant Foreman's The Five Civilized Tribes: a Brief History and a Century of Progress, published in 1948. Some of Gritts’ work resides in private collections. The Cherokee, A New True Book, by Emilie U. Lepthien, published in 1985, calls Gritts a famous Cherokee
Cherokee
The Cherokee are a Native American people historically settled in the Southeastern United States . Linguistically, they are part of the Iroquoian language family...
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External links
- Fred Jones Jr. Museum of Art
- Touring the Cherokee Nation
- The Artists’ Bluebook
- Kansas Murals
- Life on the Kaw
- Studies in American Indian
- Haskell Cultural Center and Museum
- Arthur and Shifra Silberman Art Collection
- Paths to Museums
- Oklahoma Today
- Native American painting
- Haskell Indian Art Market draws 30,000
- Indians in the War, 1945
- USS Franklin
- Fortunate Eagle