Editing Romare Bearden (section)

== Early life and education ==
Bearden was born September 2, 1911, in Charlotte. Bearden and his family moved to New York City when he was a toddler, as part of the [[Great Migration (African American)|Great Migration]]. After enrolling in P.S. 5 in 1917, on 141 Street and Edgecombe Avenue in Harlem, he attended P.S. 139 and then DeWitt Clinton High School.<ref name=":4">{{Cite web|title=TIMELINE|url=https://beardenfoundation.org/timeline/|access-date=2021-02-11|website=Bearden Foundation|language=en-US}}</ref> In 1927 he moved to [[East Liberty (Pittsburgh)|East Liberty]], [[Pittsburgh]]<ref>{{Citation|title=Jose Jose - Amar y Querer| date=January 9, 2009 |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RzJ3QjBsqM0&list=RDoObpxzkul3k&index=3 |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/varchive/youtube/20211211/RzJ3QjBsqM0| archive-date=2021-12-11 |url-status=live|language=en|access-date=2019-10-13}}{{cbignore}}</ref> with his grandparents<ref name=":5">{{Cite book|last=O'Meally|first=Robert G.|title=The Romare Bearden Reader.|publisher=Duke University Press|year=2019|isbn=9781478000440|location=Durham|pages=9}}</ref><ref name=":4" /> and then returned to New York City. The Bearden household soon became a meeting place for major figures of the [[Harlem Renaissance]].<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.nga.gov/feature/bearden/index.shtm |title=National Gallery of Art: The Art of Romare Bearden - Introduction |publisher=Nga.gov |access-date=2015-11-15 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160123110115/http://www.nga.gov/feature/bearden/index.shtm |archive-date=January 23, 2016 |df=mdy-all }}</ref> His father, R. Howard Bearden, was a grocer and pianist.<ref>West, Sandra L.. Encyclopedia of the Harlem Renaissance. United Kingdom, Facts On File, Incorporated, 2003.</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://doi.org/10.1093/anb/9780198606697.article.1701316 |title=Bearden, Romare |last=Wedge |first=Eleanor F. |website=doi.org |date=2000 |publisher=[[American National Biography]] |doi=10.1093/anb/9780198606697.article.1701316 |access-date=March 10, 2025}}</ref> Romare's mother, [[Bessye J. Bearden|Bessye Bearden]], played an active role with the [[New York City Board of Education]], and also was the founder and president of the Colored Women's Democratic League. She was a New York correspondent for ''[[The Chicago Defender]]'', an African-American newspaper.<ref name=":0">{{Cite web|url=http://www.oxfordartonline.com:80/subscriber/article/grove/art/T2085630|title=Bearden, Romare|website=Grove Art Online. Oxford Art Online.|publisher=Oxford University Press|access-date=19 January 2017}}</ref> Romare had [[Cherokee]], Italian, and African ancestry.<ref name="nyt">{{cite web |last1=Kinzer |first1=Stephen |title=ARTS IN AMERICA; Charlotte Acclaims Romare Bearden as a Native Son |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2002/10/02/arts/arts-in-america-charlotte-acclaims-romare-bearden-as-a-native-son.html |website=The New York Times |access-date=2 September 2022 |date=2 October 2002}}</ref> ''[[The Washington Post]]'' described him as "African American."<ref>{{cite news |title=Review {{!}} First the New Yorker profiled Romare Bearden. Then the artist and activist decided to tell his own story, in pictures. |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/entertainment/museums/first-the-new-yorker-profiled-romare-bearden-then-the-artist-and-activist-decided-to-tell-his-own-story-in-pictures/2019/10/08/7540ac2c-e622-11e9-a331-2df12d56a80b_story.html |newspaper=Washington Post |access-date=2 September 2022}}</ref> His fair skin allowed him to cross boundaries which many other Black people were unable to access.<ref name=nyt/>

In 1929, Romare Bearden graduated from [[Peabody High School (Pennsylvania)|Peabody High School]] in Pittsburgh. He enrolled in [[Lincoln University (Pennsylvania)|Lincoln University]], the nation's second oldest [[Historically black colleges and universities|historically Black college]], founded in 1854. He transferred to [[Boston University]] where he served as the art director for ''Beanpot'', Boston University's student humor magazine.<ref>{{cite web |title=Bearden Foundation |url=http://www.beardenfoundation.org/artlife/biography/biography.shtml |access-date=April 14, 2013 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130523233801/http://www.beardenfoundation.org/artlife/biography/biography.shtml |archive-date=May 23, 2013 |df=mdy-all }}</ref> He continued his studies at [[New York University]] (NYU), where he started to focus more on his art and less on athletics, and became a lead cartoonist and art editor for ''The Medley'', the monthly journal of the secretive [[Eucleian Society]] at NYU.<ref name="Romare Bearden Foundation, 1990">Romare Bearden Foundation, 1990</ref> Bearden studied art, education, science, and mathematics graduating with a degree in science and education in 1935.

Bearden continued his artistic study under German artist [[George Grosz]] at the [[Art Students League of New York|Art Students League]] in 1936 and 1937. During this time he supported himself by working as a political cartoonist for African-American newspapers, including the ''[[Baltimore Afro-American]],'' where he published a weekly cartoon from 1935 until 1937.<ref>{{cite web|title=Biography|url=http://www.beardenfoundation.org/artlife/biography/biography.shtml|website=Romare Bearden Foundation|access-date=27 January 2017|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170131085735/http://www.beardenfoundation.org/artlife/biography/biography.shtml|archive-date=January 31, 2017|df=mdy-all}}</ref>