The HistoryMakers video oral history with LeRoy Winbush.

Graphic designer and scuba diver LeRoy Winbush was born on December 7, 1915, in Memphis, Tennessee, moving to Chicago at age fourteen. His many accomplishments include founding his own graphic design business and gaining attention as a scuba diver, bowler and skier. The Regal Theatre hired Winbush in 1938 to plan and paint its theater front. Winbush then earned jobs designing signs and displays at Goldblatt's department store. In the 1940s, founding Winbush Designs, Winbush revolutionized the window displays of banks and earned a reputation as one of the country's top airbrush artists. He also worked as art director at Johnson Publishing Company for a decade, where he helped create the first issue of Ebony. At the age of forty-eight, Winbush embarked upon a new challenge: he learned how to swim. Enjoying it, he studied scuba diving. One of Winbush's last talents was developing a skill for underwater photography. He passed away on May 28, 2007.

Larry Crowe, interviewer.

Recorded Chicago, Illinois 2002 May 29.

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