Edwin harleston, artist & Friend
John McFall mentioned his close friend, Edwin Harleston, several times in his manuscript. Like John, Harleston wore many hats. He worked as an undertaker in his father’s funeral home. This was not his preference. Like John, he was civically active. Both he and John were charter members of the Charleston Chapter of the NAACP; Edwin also served as president of the chapter. Edwin was an artist; unfortunately, he couldn’t make a living being one. “Jim Crow” was a significant factor preventing that. Harleston did two drawings of John’s family: his father, Thomas, and his grandmother, Ellen Hargrove. Today, Harleston’s work hangs in the Gibbes Museum in Charleston.
Dr. McFall wrote that he thought that his friend’s “Old Servant” should have won the Harmon Prize in 1930. “The Wanderers” by James Lesesne won the Gold Medal instead. Information from the Harleston family shows that Harleston lived to receive the Locke Prize (named for Alain Locke -- first African American Rhodes Scholar) that was awarded by the Harmon Foundation in 1931.