The Portrait Tells a Story: Lloyd Patterson in Soviet Russia

The Museum of Russian Art presents the virtual program The Portrait Tells a Story: Lloyd Patterson in Soviet Russia This virtual discussion will center around the life of Lloyd Patterson (1910-1942), a participant of the 1932 Soviet-German film project Black and White intended to highlight racism in the United States. Patterson traveled to Soviet Russia in a group of 22 Black Americans to participate in the project. Among other group members were Langston Hughes, Louise Thompson, and Dorothy West, prominent literary figures and activists of the Harlem Renaissance, as well as Homer Smith Jr., a postal worker and journalist (from Minneapolis), Wayland Rudd, an actor, and others. The film was never made and most of the participants returned to the United States. Lloyd Patterson stayed in Soviet Russia and married Ukrainian artist Vera Aralova. Their child, James (Jimmy), became the most famous Soviet child movie star of the 1930s, performing in the 1936 film The Circus.