\n\t\t\t\t\t\tA piece of Florida\u2019s 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.\u201cMan, I\u2019m speechless because I have no words for losing two in a week,\u201d 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.\u201cNow 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,\u201d 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\u2019s 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\u2019ve celebrated the men, their work, and what it represents.Your neighborhood: Local coverage from WPBF 25 News\u201cNo 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,\u201d Truesdell said.Truesdell is looking forward to the upcoming opening of a Highwaymen museum in Fort Pierce.\u201cI 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,\u201d Truesdell said.But it\u2019s bittersweet, with only two of the original Highwaymen still around to see it.\u201cI 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,\u201d 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.\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n
\t\t\t\t\t\tFORT PIERCE, Fla. \u2014 \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n
A piece of Florida\u2019s Black history was celebrated on the Treasure Coast.<\/p>\n
Saturday was the 15th annual Jetson Highwaymen Show.<\/p>\n
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. <\/p>\n
Previous Coverage: Fort Pierce art museum honoring historic African American Highwaymen artists to open this year<\/a><\/p>\n Willie Reagan and R.L. Lewis died within days of each other.<\/p>\n \u201cMan, I\u2019m speechless because I have no words for losing two in a week,\u201d Doretha Hair Truesdell said.<\/p>\n Truesdell is the widow of Highwayman Alfred Hair.<\/p>\n Now she leads a group called Original Florida Hall of Fame Highwaymen Inc., which is working to preserve their art.<\/p>\n \u201cNow 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,\u201d Truesdell said.<\/p>\n The Florida Highwaymen were a group of 26 black artists who broke barriers during the segregation era of the 1960s. <\/p>\n They sold their landscape paintings along Florida\u2019s roadways because they were not allowed to display their art in traditional galleries or museums.<\/p>\n Jetson in Fort Pierce was one of their regular stops.<\/p>\n And every last Saturday in January for the past 15 years, they\u2019ve celebrated the men, their work, and what it represents.<\/p>\n