Friends,

I’m writing with the sad news of the passing of James C. McMillan, who led our Art Department from 1969-77, after beginning his teaching career by starting the Art program at Bennett College. James was a well-known and accomplished artist and a trailblazer in many aspects of his long life.

I was delighted to have the opportunity to meet James when he visited campus in March for the dedication of the Lavina Curry historical marker. He passed away Thursday, Sept. 1, at the age of 96. A visitation will be held from noon to 7 p.m. on Friday, Sept. 9, at Serenity Funeral Home in Greensboro.

James’ impact was felt across and beyond the Greensboro community. His art conveyed a global vision that included the Depression, war, and the Civil Rights Movement. In the early 1960s he went to jail three times for acts of civil disobedience in the name of equal treatment. 

A native of Sanford, N.C., James was valedictorian of his high school senior class at the age of 15, and he attended Howard University before being drafted into the U.S. Navy during World War II. He worked on a naval battleship a few days before it was destroyed by Japanese kamikaze pilots.

He graduated from Howard with a bachelor of arts degree in 1947 and taught intermittently at Bennett while serving in the Navy, earning his MFA in Sculpture at Catholic University (D.C.) in 1952 and studying art at the Academie Julien in Paris. 

James was the first African-American student at the Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture in Maine and at Syracuse University, where as a Danforth Scholar he worked on a doctoral degree. The fresco mural he painted at Skowhegan, "Black Miners," was featured in Look magazine. 

Then, in 1969, he became the first African-American, full-time professor and department head at Guilford. The James C. McMillan Scholarship for Art students was established in his honor. After retiring from Guilford in 1988, he helped found the African American Atelier, which promoted the arts in Guilford County including to schoolchildren. 

His artwork was featured in a 50-year retrospective titled, "Eye, Hand, Mind, Spirit: The Art of James C. McMillan," held at Guilford College Art Gallery in 1996, and another retrospective, "The Art of James C. McMillan: Loss and Redemption — A Retrospective" at the Bakersfield (Calif.) Museum of Art in 2009. 

In 2011, dual retrospective exhibitions were held in Greensboro at the African American Atelier and Bennett College, and accompanied by a catalogue. His drawing, "Windsor Composite," is in the permanent collection of Guilford College and is currently displayed in Hege Library.

In 2006, he was awarded the Betty Cone Medal of Arts by ArtsGreensboro, which is the highest local award presented to artists.

Guilford faculty through the ages have had an enduring impact on the College, students, colleagues, alumni, and the wider community. James McMillan certainly had such an impact. I ask that you hold his family and friends in the Light in this time of loss.

Warmly,
Kyle Farmbry
President