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1Repair Windows errors before they cause bigger problems2Scan for outdated or missing drivers - takes under a minute3Clear out junk files and repair common Windows errorsJohn Henrik Clarke’s short story The Boy Who Painted Christ Black follows Aaron Crawford, a gifted Black student in segregated Georgia who paints Jesus as Black. When a school supervisor condemns the picture as sacrilegious, Principal George Du Vaul defends Aaron’s right to imagine Christ in his own image—and risks his career by defending that principle.
Plot summary
Aaron Crawford attends a segregated school in Georgia and is recognized as a talented young artist. For his teacher’s birthday, he gives her a painting of Christ with Black features. The image immediately becomes controversial when Professor Danual, the school supervisor, sees it and declares it sacrilegious.
Aaron explains that he painted Christ after Principal George Du Vaul told students that Black people had as much right to portray Jesus as white people did. Du Vaul has also taught his pupils about African history and Black achievement, making the painting part of a broader lesson about cultural identity rather than an isolated act of provocation.
Danual demands that Du Vaul resign for exceeding his authority. Du Vaul accepts responsibility publicly, saying, “I don’t think the boy is so far wrong in painting Christ black.” He also states, “I encouraged the boy in painting that picture.” Although he loses his position, he later finds summer work teaching art and receives permission to continue encouraging Aaron. The story ends with the two walking together with dignity, suggesting solidarity and moral victory despite Du Vaul’s professional loss.
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What the painting represents
Representation and religious imagery
The painting challenges the assumption that sacred figures must be represented as white. Aaron’s work does not merely change Christ’s appearance; it questions who is allowed to imagine holiness and whose features are treated as universal.
Cultural memory and Black dignity
Du Vaul connects Aaron’s artistic choice to historical education. By teaching African history and Black achievement, he gives students a framework for seeing Black people as central to human civilization rather than as marginal figures in someone else’s story.
Institutional power
Professor Danual’s objection shows how schools can enforce cultural norms through administrative authority. The conflict is not only about theology or art. It is also about who controls the curriculum, which interpretations are considered respectable, and whether a principal may encourage students to challenge inherited assumptions.
Rank #2
Why Du Vaul’s defense matters
Du Vaul does not claim that Aaron’s painting is the only legitimate image of Christ. His argument is that Black students have the same right to represent sacred figures in images that include them. By accepting responsibility, he prevents Aaron from bearing the full institutional punishment for an idea the principal himself encouraged.
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Major themes
Art as resistance
Aaron’s painting is personal expression, but it also resists a visual tradition that excludes Blackness from sacred representation. The story presents art as a way for a young person to make an argument that formal lessons and institutional rules have left unspoken.
Rank #3
Education beyond official lessons
Du Vaul’s teaching extends beyond the narrow authority recognized by his supervisor. The story asks whether education should simply transmit accepted images or help students examine who created those images and why.
Mentorship and moral courage
Aaron’s achievement depends partly on an adult who takes his work seriously. Du Vaul’s willingness to stand beside him demonstrates that mentorship may require public risk, especially when a student’s self-expression confronts a powerful institution.
Victory without institutional reward
The ending separates moral success from career success. Du Vaul does not keep his post, and the school does not publicly reverse Danual’s decision. Nevertheless, the principal’s continued support and the pair’s dignified walk indicate that the values behind Aaron’s painting have survived the punishment.
Publication and reading context
A literary commentary commonly dates the story to 1940, although the original publication issue or a primary archival record has not been confirmed in the sources consulted. A precise bibliographic reference places it in Gloria M. Simmons and Helene D. Hutchinson’s anthology Black Culture: Reading and Writing Black (Holt Rinehart & Winston, 1972), on pages 163–167.
The complete story is reproduced in Joan Taylor’s University of Pennsylvania Teachers Institute curriculum unit, School Daze: Engagement Strategies for Middle School Readers. That unit is intended for Grade 8 and can be used through Grade 10, making the story suitable for classroom discussion of representation, school authority, race, religion, and artistic freedom.
Questions for discussion
- Why does Aaron’s painting create a stronger institutional reaction than a private drawing might have?
- How does Du Vaul’s teaching about African history change the meaning of the painting?
- Does Danual object primarily to the image, to Du Vaul’s teaching, or to the challenge to his authority?
- What does Du Vaul gain and lose by accepting responsibility?
- Why does the final scene function as a victory even though Du Vaul has lost his job?
The 1996 television adaptation
America’s Dream, a 1996 television anthology drama, includes a segment based on Clarke’s story. TV Guide lists Wesley Snipes as George Du Vaul and Norman D. Golden II as Aaron in that segment.
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The available cast information confirms the adaptation and those two roles, but it does not establish current streaming access, a physical-media release, or specific changes from the short story. A reliable comparison would require viewing both works directly and examining characterization, dialogue, the treatment of segregation, and the ending rather than assuming the screen version reproduces every event.
What readers should know before looking for a copy
The anthology citation is the clearest print location identified for the story, but current inventory and edition availability have not been verified. If you search for the book, use the full title and author names and confirm that a listing corresponds to the 1972 anthology before purchasing. The educational reproduction is another documented place where the complete text appears.
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