"Black History Month" Art
I recently created a set of slides based on Black History Month for the folks at Sharefaith.
I've been very interested interested in African-American history for a while, so I was thrilled to be able to work on this set. The most difficult thing for this project was narrowing in on the few people to include. I knew I wanted to represent a spectrum eras, gender and areas of influence. I ended up with the following:
- Frederick Douglass – A social reformer, abolitionist, orator, writer, and statesman. After escaping from slavery, he became a leader of the abolitionist movement and wrote several books including his highly influential autobiography, "Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, an American Slave."
- Jackie Robinson – The first African-American major league baseball player in the modern era. He had an impact on the culture of and contributed significantly to the Civil Rights Movement.
- Martin Luther King, Jr. – Minister, activist, humanitarian, and leader in the African-American Civil Rights Movement. He is best known for his role in the advancement of civil rights using nonviolent civil disobedience based on his Christian beliefs.
- Ella Fitzgerald – A highly influential jazz singer known for noted for her purity of tone, impeccable diction, phrasing and intonation, and a "horn-like" improvisational ability.
- George Washington Carver – Born into slavery in the 1860s, Carver became a well known botanist and inventor. Through his botany work he wanted to help poor farmers grow alternative crops both as a source of their own food and as a source of other products to improve their quality of life.
- Rosa Parks – In 1955, Parks refused to give up her seat on the bus to a white passenger. This simple act of resistance became one of the most important symbols of the modern Civil Rights Movement. The thing I especially love about Rosa Parks is that she was known to be "timid and shy" but had "the courage of a lion."
- Ida B. Wells – A journalist, newspaper editor, suffragist, sociologist, Georgist, and an early leader in the Civil Rights Movement.
Close ups as well as several other slides in the set can be seen below. The full set is available on Sharefaith.
Big thanks to the folks at Sharefaith (especially the Art Director, Juliet Towner) for the opportunity.
View more of my sermon art and drop me a message if you're interested in custom sermon imagery. You may also purchase digital files of some of my biblical art in my shop.
Frederick Douglass
Jackie Robinson
Martin Luther King, Jr.
Ella Fitzgerald
Rosa Parks // George Washington Carver
