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- Laura Wheeler Waring. Among the greatest black female artists of the 20th century, few are as well-known as Laura Wheeler Waring. She is notably one of the most influential figures among artists in the African American community and her portraits are considered by many art historians and critics to be masterful works of art.
- Kara Walker. Kara Walker is an artist with a unique flair for producing works that capture the essence of antebellum life before the Civil War in the South.
- Augusta Savage. Born in 1892, Augusta Savage can accurately be described as one of the founding members of the Harlem Renaissance who truly helped the era gain popularity with her works, as well as her efforts to educate fellow African American artists.
- Clementine Hunter. Clementine Hunter was born on a former slave plantation in Louisiana in 1886. She was a self-taught artist, which made her works all the more treasured among the great Black female artists in history.
- The Slavery Era. Slavery in America. Some of the most famous examples of African American folk art are the quilts depicting scenes from the Bible and historic events made by Harriet Powers, born into slavery in Georgia in 1837 and freed after the Civil War; they have been preserved in the Smithsonian and Boston’s Museum of Fine Art.
- Civil War and Reconstruction. Black Leaders During Reconstruction. The New York-born artist Edmonia Lewis, of African American and Native American descent, studied at Oberlin College in the early 1860s and later gained fame as a sculptor.
- Early 20th Century and the Harlem Renaissance. Harlem Renaissance. In the years following World War I, Black visual artists produced an increasing amount of work influenced by the aesthetic traditions of Africa.
- The Civil Rights and Black Arts Movements. Montgomery Bus Boycott. The hardship of the Depression and the coming of World War II refocused African American literature and art towards social criticism, as evidenced by the work of such novelists as Ann Petry, whose 1946 novel The Street chronicled the struggles of a working class Black woman in Harlem.
- Laura Wheeler Waring (1887 – 1948) Laura Wheeler Waring. African-American. 16 May 1887. 3 February 1948.
- Alma W. Thomas (1891 – 1978) Alma Woodsey Thomas. African-American. 22 September 1891. 24 February 1978.
- Loïs Mailou Jones (1905 – 1998) Loïs Mailou Jones. African-American. 3 November 1905. 9 June 1998.
- Betye Saar (1926 – Present) Betye Irene Saar. African-American. 30 July 1926. Present. Los Angeles, California, United States.
Through their achievements in the dramatic arts, African American women have broken barriers, enriched American culture, and inspired audiences around the world. Over time, the roles that black artists played on the stage and screen reflected changing aspirations, struggles, and realities for women of color in American society.
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In 1971 Faith Ringgold, Dindga McCannon, and Kay Brown banded together to form Where We At, a collective for Black women artists. The trio was frustrated by their exclusion from the white-dominated art world and male-dominated Black arts movements.