Archie Boston Jr.

Born in 1943 in Clewiston, Florida, Boston's father was either a sugar cane sharecropper or a migrant worker tilling the sugarcane fields and later became a truck driver. His mother raised five children, including Archie, and worked as a babysitter. Boston graduated from Gibbs High School. National Defense Student Loans funded his education for the first three years and then a Disney Foundation Scholarship funded his final year of graphic design studies. == Career ==

During his senior year at Chouinard, Boston worked as an intern at the Los Angeles-based advertising agency Carson/Roberts, one of the largest in the West. He went on to work at various studios, including Hixson and Jorgensen Advertising in 1965, and in 1966 he became an art director at Botsford Ketchum. In 1967, he and his older brother, Bradford, formed Boston & Boston Design, one of the first Black-owned agencies in the United States. The two had worked together previously in 1963 producing a series of posters for the Council on Negro Affairs. Boston & Boston Design's clients included Beckman Instruments, Chiat/Day Advertising, and Concord Electronics. In 1969, after two years working together, Archie left Boston & Boston Design, wanting to return to advertising agency work where he would be able to see his concepts realized through published ads. He took a position at his previous employer, Carson/Roberts, but shortly after rejoined Botsford Ketchum, where he remained until 1977. At Botsford Ketchum, Boston worked on campaigns for Motorola, Raytheon, Yamaha, and Pentel, rounding out his advertising skills with copywriting, notably writing the headline for a Pentel ad, "I told Pentel what to do with their pens. And they did it." He also started Archie Boston Graphic Design, an advertising and design consultancy, taking on clients beginning in 1973. In 1972, at age 29, Boston became the president of the Art Director Club of Los Angeles, the second-largest in the nation, and was the first black president in the organization's 28-year history. Design educator Boston first began teaching when he was 23 at Chouinard Art Institute. After receiving his master's degree from the University of Southern California in 1977, he began a 32-year-long stint as a full lecturer in the Department of Art at California State University, Long Beach. In 1978 he helped to found the design department that later became the Visual Communications Design program. During his time at Cal State Long Beach, he served 12 terms as the department chair. He retired from teaching in 2009. == Impact and legacy ==

During his first sabbatical at California State University Long Beach, Boston realized the documentary, 20 Outstanding Los Angeles Designers. For this film, he interviewed leading Los Angeles designers including Saul Bass, Marion Sampler, Robert Miles Runyan, among other designers. The proceeds from the resulting documentary funded a scholarship for design students in need. == Recognitions and accomplishments ==

• 1972 First African American president of the Art Directors Club of Los Angeles, where he served two terms. • 2007 AIGA Fellows Award, L.A. Chapter of AIGA • 2017 Boston and his work were featured in episode 4 of the multi-part series The Real Mad Men of Advertising • Graphic Design: USA named him as one of 35 design pioneers. • Awarded for his work in Art Directors Club Shows including New York, San Francisco, and Los Angeles • In 2018, Duke University acquired Boston's entire body of work dating from 1963. == References ==

• Archie Boston papers, Duke University. https://archives.lib.duke.edu/catalog/bostonarchie • Archie Boston graphic design files, circa 1970s-2010s https://searchworks.stanford.edu/view/13901957 • Archie Boston, Boston & Boston promotion, "For a Discriminating Designer" https://www.notion.so/peoplesgraphicdesignarchive/For-a-Discriminating-Design-Poster-946c2e2f26ff4897bf34035d195f4e4f