A piece of Florida’s Black history was celebrated on the Treasure Coast.Saturday was the 15th annual Jetson Highwaymen Show.It honors the legacy of the original 26 Florida Highwaymen who displayed and sold their paintings at the store in Fort Pierce, and it comes after two of those artists died earlier this week. Previous Coverage: Fort Pierce art museum honoring historic African American Highwaymen artists to open this yearWillie Reagan and R.L. Lewis died within days of each other.“Man, I’m speechless because I have no words for losing two in a week,” Doretha Hair Truesdell said.Truesdell is the widow of Highwayman Alfred Hair.Now she leads a group called Original Florida Hall of Fame Highwaymen Inc., which is working to preserve their art.“Now with both of them gone. We will still continue on because we have to, and we have to do it for them. But yeah, it’s hard. It’s hard,” Truesdell said.The Florida Highwaymen were a group of 26 black artists who broke barriers during the segregation era of the 1960s. They sold their landscape paintings along Florida’s roadways because they were not allowed to display their art in traditional galleries or museums.Jetson in Fort Pierce was one of their regular stops.And every last Saturday in January for the past 15 years, they’ve celebrated the men, their work, and what it represents.Your neighborhood: Local coverage from WPBF 25 News“No matter how hard life is or could be. You can still excel, no matter how life is, because you can come through it all. Because all of these artists came through the hard times. But the art was able to shine and the world could see the soul of all these artists,” Truesdell said.Truesdell is looking forward to the upcoming opening of a Highwaymen museum in Fort Pierce.“I hope the community will come to appreciate the Highwaymen art. They grew, a lot of them grew up with it, so it comes natural for them. But I hope that they will see the magic of the Highwaymen art through the opening of the museum. That’s my hope for our community,” Truesdell said.But it’s bittersweet, with only two of the original Highwaymen still around to see it.“I wish they were here. I really, truly wish they could have been here to see what their art, you know, what the art did and what it’s doing for everyone. Because if you look around just today and all of the people that were here, the art inspires them,” Truesdell said.The city of Fort Pierce Florida Highwaymen Museum is in the Jackie L. Canyon Sr. Building on Avenue D.It is scheduled to open on Feb. 20.Get the latest news updates with the WPBF 25 News app. You can download it here.

FORT PIERCE, Fla. —

A piece of Florida’s Black history was celebrated on the Treasure Coast.

Saturday was the 15th annual Jetson Highwaymen Show.

It honors the legacy of the original 26 Florida Highwaymen who displayed and sold their paintings at the store in Fort Pierce, and it comes after two of those artists died earlier this week.

Previous Coverage: Fort Pierce art museum honoring historic African American Highwaymen artists to open this year

Willie Reagan and R.L. Lewis died within days of each other.

“Man, I’m speechless because I have no words for losing two in a week,” Doretha Hair Truesdell said.

Truesdell is the widow of Highwayman Alfred Hair.

Now she leads a group called Original Florida Hall of Fame Highwaymen Inc., which is working to preserve their art.

“Now with both of them gone. We will still continue on because we have to, and we have to do it for them. But yeah, it’s hard. It’s hard,” Truesdell said.

The Florida Highwaymen were a group of 26 black artists who broke barriers during the segregation era of the 1960s.

They sold their landscape paintings along Florida’s roadways because they were not allowed to display their art in traditional galleries or museums.

Jetson in Fort Pierce was one of their regular stops.

And every last Saturday in January for the past 15 years, they’ve celebrated the men, their work, and what it represents.

Your neighborhood: Local coverage from WPBF 25 News

“No matter how hard life is or could be. You can still excel, no matter how life is, because you can come through it all. Because all of these artists came through the hard times. But the art was able to shine and the world could see the soul of all these artists,” Truesdell said.

Truesdell is looking forward to the upcoming opening of a Highwaymen museum in Fort Pierce.

“I hope the community will come to appreciate the Highwaymen art. They grew, a lot of them grew up with it, so it comes natural for them. But I hope that they will see the magic of the Highwaymen art through the opening of the museum. That’s my hope for our community,” Truesdell said.

But it’s bittersweet, with only two of the original Highwaymen still around to see it.

“I wish they were here. I really, truly wish they could have been here to see what their art, you know, what the art did and what it’s doing for everyone. Because if you look around just today and all of the people that were here, the art inspires them,” Truesdell said.

The city of Fort Pierce Florida Highwaymen Museum is in the Jackie L. Canyon Sr. Building on Avenue D.

It is scheduled to open on Feb. 20.

Get the latest news updates with the WPBF 25 News app. You can download it here.