Born on a cotton plantation, Thornton Dial,
Sr. spent much of his adult life as a welder for Pullman Standard Company in
Bessemer, Alabama. In his spare time, he began assembling densely layered sculptures and reliefs, made up of
found materials, which recounted aspects of daily life and historical events.
In 1987 he met the artist Lonnie Holley, who in turn introduced him to
collectors and curators who helped support Dial and promoted his work to a
larger public.

In
1990 Dial moved to McCalla, Alabama, where he set
up a formal studio for the first time in his career. The paintings that
followed were monumental reflections on important episodes in American history,
including Roosevelt: A Handicapped Man
Got the Cities to Move, a tribute to Franklin D. Roosevelt and the New Deal
policies that created opportunities for workers migrating from the rural south
to the urban north. Combining paint, vigorous drawing, and found materials,
Dial created a dynamic panorama dominated by a man and a woman. The black and
white creature that stretches across the composition is a tiger, a symbol
adopted by Dial to represent African Americans’ struggle for freedom.