Dr Mae Jemison
As a doctor, engineer, and NASA astronaut, Mae Jemison has always reached for the stars. In 1992, Jemison became the first African American woman to travel in space.
Tag Archives: African Descent
Continue reading
Joyce Parrish O’Neal
Joyce Parrish O’Neal participated in many marches supporting African Americans’ right to vote during the Civil Rights Movement.
Bettye Washington Greene
Industrial research chemist Bettye Washington Greene was an early African American pioneer in science. She was the first African American female Ph.D. chemist to work in a professional position at the Dow Chemical Company, where she researched latex and polymers.
Betye Saar
Saar was a key player in the post-war American legacy of assemblage. Her attitude toward identity, assemblage art, and a visual language for Black art can be seen in the work of contemporary African-American artist Radcliffe Bailey, and Post-Black artist Rashid Johnson.
Ella Fitzgerald
Ella Fitzgerald, known as “The First Lady of Song,” was a revolutionary American jazz singer who performed all over the world. Her signature style included her iconic vocal range, clear tone and ability to improvise with her hallmark scat singing. Her many awards and accolades are a reflection of the colossal inspiration she was to many.
Shirley Horn
Jazz singer and pianist Shirley Horn was one of the leading jazz musicians of her generation. With her distinctive voice and the slow pace of her music, Horn had a long and storied career which touched both national and international audiences.
Nina Simone
“The High Priestess of Soul,” Nina Simone was a singer, pianist, songwriter, and civil rights activist. Mostly known as a jazz singer, her music blended gospel, blues, folk, pop, and classical styles. No popular singer was more closely associated with the Civil Rights Movement than Simone.
Mary Lou Williams
One of the greatest jazz pianists, composers, and arrangers of all time, Mary Lou Williams was a swing and bebop icon. “The Lady Who Swings the Band” also devoted herself to aiding musicians in need and teaching younger generations about jazz’s rich African American heritage.
Julie Mehretu
Whilst Mehretu’s art is inspired by events taking place in Africa and the Middle East, she resists interpretations of her work that fail to see past her ethnicity. According to the artist, her work is not all about “blackness” or “otherness.” She believes that there is a failure to “simply accept and understand that a woman of African descent is making large, abstract paintings” and that this is a restrictive view of what artists of color can achieve.
Faith Ringgold
Ringgold’s work as an artist, an activist, and an educator has influenced both the art world and communities beyond the art world. Her founding or co-founding of many arts organizations focused on issues faced by women of color has created many opportunities for those artists.