Arts 1
“King of Pop”, one of the best selling artists in music history
Michael Jackson
African American artist born in South Carolina, muralist and painter, paintings done in a Batik process, themes include personal and cultural symbols using abstract forms. In 1970, became the first African American student to receive a Doctorate of Arts (Ed.D) from University of Georgia
Leo Twiggs
American actress, writer, director, producer, and web series creator. She first garnered attention for her work on the YouTube web series Awkward Black Girl, which led to her creating, co-writing and starring in HBO’s television series, Insecure.
Issa Rae
First black woman named a principal dancer in the 75-year history of the American Ballet Theater
Misty Copeland
Sold over 100 million records worldwide as a solo artist, making her one of the best selling music artists of all time. In 2009, Billboard named her the Top Radio Songs Artist of the Decade and the Top Female Artist of the 2000s decade.
Beyoncé
African American entrepreneur, radio and television personality and business executive, who founded the media company Radio One (now known as Urban One), and when the company went public in 1999, she became the first African American woman to head a publicly traded corporation.
Cathy Hughes
American biographical crime comedy drama film directed by Spike Lee, based on the 2014 memoir by Ron Stallworth.
BlacKkKlansman
American dancer, choreographer and anthropologist who played an important role in the presentation of African dance to American audiences.
Pearl Primus
American jazz pianist, composer, and bandleader. He is regarded as one of the greatest jazz composers and a prolific performer of his time.
Edward Kennedy "Duke" Ellington
B.B King is noted for what genre of music?
Blues
American film director, producer, screenwriter, film marketer, and film distributor who became the first African American woman to produce a $100+ million dollar film, Disney’s A Wrinkle in Time.
Ava DuVernay
Dorothy Dandridge received a best actress Academy Award nomination in 1954 for her role in what?
Carmen Jones
First African American to win an Academy Award for Best Actor for his role as a construction worker who helps build a chapel in Lilies of the Field (1963)
Sidney Poitier
In 2017, she became the first black woman to take home a Golden Globe for best actress in a TV series, comedy or musical since 1983.
Tracee Ellis Ross
In addition to running Wondaland Records, this singer and songwriter was the breakout star of two Oscar-nominated films, Moonlight and Hidden Figures.
Janelle Monae
Formed by Abram Hill, Frederick O’Neal, and other actors in Harlem, New York in 1940, was an outgrowth of the illustrious Negro Unit of the Federal Theatre Project in Harlem
American Negro Theatre (ANT)
It was an African American cultural movement. It was centered on Harlem, a suburb of New York City.
Harlem Renaissance
Who is the first African American painter to gain international acclaim?
Henry Ossawa Tanner
Who was the first African American movie director nominated for an Academy Award?
John Singleton
Who was the first black woman to write a Broadway play (1959) which was made into a movie (1961), “A Raisin in the Sun”?
Lorraine Hansberry
American stage actress, professional singer songwriter, and comedian. She is best known for her role as "Mammy" in Gone with the Wind (1939), for which she won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress, the first Academy Award won by an African American entertainer.
Hattie McDaniel
American television producer, television and film writer, and author. She is best known as the showrunner—creator, head writer, and executive producer—of the television medical drama Grey's Anatomy and the political thriller series Scandal. In 2007, she was named one of TIME magazine's 100 People Who Help Shape the World.
Shonda Rhimes
An African American painter who chronicled the experiences of the Great Migration north through his 60 panel Migration Series, painted on cardboard art
Jacob Lawrence
Influential author of African American literature and anthropologist, who portrayed racial struggles in the early 20th century American South, and published research on Haitian voodoo. Of her four novels and more than 50 published short stories, plays, and essays, her most popular is the 1937 novel Their Eyes Were Watching God.
Zora Neale Hurston
This poem utilizes four of the world's largest and most historically prominent rivers as a metaphor to present a view, almost a timeline in miniature, of the African American experience throughout history.
The Negro Speaks of Rivers