Lady Bird Cleveland

Lady Bird Strickland (also Lady Bird Cleveland or Ladybird Cleveland) (July 24, 1926 – June 2, 2015) was an American painter whose work primarily depicts the African-American experience, focusing on aspects of life from slavery and the civil rights movement to entertainment and culture to President Barack Obama's inauguration. She is the mother of the fashion model Pat Cleveland.

Early life and work Strickland was born into poverty in Cornelia, Georgia, to a black mother and an Irish-Scottish and black father. She was of African, Cherokee and Irish heritage.

Her mother ran a restaurant from their home called Sally's Tea Room, which became a popular spot in the area. However, her family was still poor. She was one of six children. She started to draw at an early age, using striped paper from tablets because she did not have access to drawing paper. As an African American girl in a deeply segregated part of Georgia, she was not encouraged to express herself. She was reprimanded by her teachers when she was caught drawing in school, swatting her with a hickory stick. In her youth, Strickland would spend time in Harlem clubs, but by her adulthood, she began to socialize and make art with leading entertainment and political figures of the twentieth century.

During World War II, Strickland dropped out of school to find work. To financially support herself, Strickland worked in a storefront window, painting ties and crafting ultraviolet billboards.

Her paintings of the 1940s would reflect scenes of the Harlem nightlife featuring figures such as Josephine Baker, Duke Ellington, Marian Anderson, Eartha Kitt, Miles Davis and Billy Eckstein. She has been photographed by Carl van Vechten, and has done catalogs for Elsa Peretti the jewelry designer for Tiffany's.

By the 1980s, Strickland had moved to Willingboro Township, New Jersey. She remarried an Army veteran.

Personal life While in Harlem, Strickland entered into an affair with saxophonist Johnny Johnston, resulting in the birth of her daughter Pat Cleveland in 1950.

During the 1960s, Strickland was involved in her daughter's modeling career. Strickland worked as her daughter's personal dresser, because at the time Cleveland was underaged. The two would travel between Cleveland's modeling jobs on Greyhound buses for months at a time.