It’s Black History Month, and I wanted to share some of my favorite Black artists, musicians, and authors. The people I have chosen had a special part in how we see the world with their work. Not only did they inspire people along the way, but they also help people understand the struggles they face being Black in a society that didn’t accept who they are. I recommend everyone check out these talented people that influence a lot of society now and will continue. Hope you enjoy it!
Artist
Jacob Lawrence
Jacob Lawrence is an American painter that is known for his painting style of dynamic cubism. His paintings contain Black historical subjects and contemporary life during the Harlem Renaissance. He was also one of the first nationally recognized Black artists.
Augusta Savage
Augusta Savage is an American sculptor associated with the Harlem Renaissance. She fought poverty, racism, and sexism during the time. Her talent led her to become one of the most influential black teachers of her time and a strong voice for civil rights.
Palmer Hayden
Palmer C. Hayden was an American painter who depicted African-American life, landscapes, seascapes, and African influences. He sketched, painted in both oils and watercolors, and was a prolific artist of his era.
Musicians
Nina Simone
Nina Simone was an American singer-songwriter, and civil rights, activist. She spanned a broad range of musical styles including classical, jazz, blues, folk, R&B, gospel, and pop. One of my favorite songs she wrote is Feeling Good, and My Baby Just Cares For Me.
Chuck Berry
Chuck Berry is a singer-songwriter and guitarist who was one of the influential performers in rhythm-and-blues and rock-and-roll music in the 1950s, 60s, and 70s. Two of my favorite songs he wrote are Johnny B. Goode and No Particular Place To Go.
Aretha Franklin
Aretha Franklin is a singer-songwriter and known as Queen of Soul. This is also an actress, pianist, and civil rights activist. Her songs would become the civil rights movement anthems. Two of my favorite songs she wrote are Respect, and I Say a Little Prayer.
Authors
James Baldwin
James Arthur Baldwin was an American novelist, playwright, essayist, poet, and activist. His essays, collected in Notes of a Native Son, explore the intricacies of racial and class distinctions in the Western society of the United States during the mid-twentieth century.
Octavia E. Butler
Octavia Estelle Butler was an American science fiction author. She was known for putting people of color into her science fiction novels that open a broader perspective of readers who had been excluded from the genre. Her work help defines the literary cornerstone of Afrofuturism.
Maya Angelou
Maya Angelou was an American poet, memoirist, and civil rights activist. The memoir I Know Why Caged Bird Sings, made literary history as the first nonfiction bestseller by a Black woman. In her poems, Angelou expresses about the woman during racial discrimination, segregation, and male domination.
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