Black History Artists by

Katherine Dunham - Dancer, Choreographer, & Anthropologist

mischiefmanaged — 2013-02-28 16:30:47 UTC

Born in 1909. She Studied at the University of Chicago, where she researched many dances of the Caribbean and eventually started her own dance company. She traveled to many differentcities and worked with a lot of inner-city youth groups.

James Van Der Zee - Photographer

mischiefmanaged — 2013-02-28 16:35:53 UTC

1886-1983. The son of Ulysses S. Grant's maid and butler. He opened his first studio in Harlem, NYC. He is most famous for his visual record of Harlem life unsurpassed in scope and detail. In 1967 the Metropolitan Museum of Art discovered his remaining 40,000 prints and negatives and displayed many of them in its "Harlem on My Mind" exhibit.

Faith Ringgold - Painter

mischiefmanaged — 2013-02-28 16:39:03 UTC

Born in 1930 in NYC. In 1963 she began a body of paintings called the American People series, which portrays the civil rights movement from a female perspective. In the 1970s she created African-style masks, painted political posters, lectured frequently at feminist art confereces, and actively sought the racial integration of the New York art world.

Augusta Savage - Scluptor, Activist, & Educator

mischiefmanaged — 2013-02-28 17:05:36 UTC

Born 1892 in Florida. Savage was considered to be on of the leading artists of the Harlem Renaissance, an African-American literary and artistic movement of the 1920s. In 1923, she applied of a special summer program to study art in France, but was rejected because of her race. However, she eventually got her opportunity to study abroad. She founded the Savage School of Arts and Crafts in Harlem and she also opened the first black art gallery in 1939.

Lorna Simpson - Photographer

mischiefmanaged — 2013-02-28 17:23:05 UTC

Lorna Simpson is a photographer whose work explores stereotypes of race and gender, most often with an emphasis on African American women. In 2007, her work was featured in a 20-year retrospective at the Whitney Museum of Art.

Claude McKay - Poet & Novelist

mischiefmanaged — 2013-03-01 16:26:21 UTC

Claude McKay was born on Sept. 15, 1890 in Jamaica. He was a poet and novelist and he was the first and most militant voice of the Harlem Renaissance. His novel, Home to Harlem (1928), was the most popular novel written by an American black in that time.

mischiefmanaged — 2013-03-01 16:43:53 UTC

mischiefmanaged — 2013-03-01 17:04:20 UTC

mischiefmanaged — 2013-03-01 17:09:18 UTC

mischiefmanaged — 2013-03-01 17:11:47 UTC

mischiefmanaged — 2013-03-01 17:16:26 UTC

mischiefmanaged — 2013-03-01 17:22:04 UTC

mischiefmanaged — 2013-03-01 17:26:40 UTC