Palmer Hayden
Palmer Hayden was born in Wide Water Virginia in 1890, with the name of Peyton Cole Hedgeman. He became famous during the Harlem Renaissance for painting oil and watercolor plantings that depicted African life. Some of his paintings even portray stereotypes or African Americans. One of his collections is based entirely on John Henry, an African American folk hero, who was thought to have blasted through mountains with a sludge hammer. This collection had 12 paintings and took ten years to complete. His contributions to art were great, but on February 18,1973, at the age of 83, he died.