A descendant of slaves, Clementine Hunter was a laborer in Natchitoches Parish, La., near the Cane River. This cross-curricular set of worksheets includes a number of writing prompts that allow students to explain how they feel about this particular part of American history.

Thanks for sharing. There, in the author’s telling, he expressed in his art all the memories he had saved up throughout his life.

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To help sustain it, make a one-time donation or sign up for a recurring monthly contribution. | Published Nov. 16, 2011.

| Forthcoming May 15, 2017, Known today as the photography who documented the Harlem Renaissance and its figures, from the ordinary to the legendary, James VanDerZee was a precocious child.

You can also use tempera paints and a thick brush or cut up sponge squares to dab on the paint. The focus of this page is on Western art history, or the development of art from the Renaissance to Modern Art. READ MORE about Jacob Lawrence’s “Struggle” series on Culture Type, “Gordon Parks: How the Photographer Captured Black and White America,” by Carole Boston Weatherford, illustrated by Jamey Christoph (Albert Whitman & Co., 32 pages; Ages 5-8). When you make any purchase from Amazon, and the many independent vendors, small businesses, and booksellers that partner with Amazon, via a link from this site, Culture Type receives a minute percentage of its price.

Planting and harvest seasons determined when children could go to school.

Born a slave, in the wake of emancipation, Traylor became a sharecropper.

Do you enjoy and value Culture Type? A colorful story about a self-taught artist. He was 15 when his mother died and he went to live with his sister in Minnesota. His compelling story and those of Benny Andrews, Romare Bearden, and Bill Traylor appeal to children and adults alike. Have them use their thumbs to make the marks on the paper, or pre-tear construction paper into squares to save time. He was talented and everyone at school recognized it, always asking him to “Make a Picture for us, Horace!” He later joined the Army, went to France and filled notebooks with what he saw there. After delivering the valedictory address at his secondary school, he attended the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, painting zoo animals, landscapes and ocean scenes. Inspired to buy a camera, picture taking took him to Chicago and Washington, D.C., where his famous “American Gothic” portrait of an African American cleaning lady synthesized for Parks and the nation the unfairness of segregation. His famous black-and-white portraits include images of political leader Marcus Garvey, performers Florence Mills and Bill Cosby, artist Jean-Michel Basquiat, families, wedding couples and community swim teams.

Putnam’s Sons, 32 pages; Ages 6-8).
Do you enjoy and value Culture Type? Black history art projects can teach students about some amazing African American artists who had to forge their own way in the world. Jean-Michel Basquiat (1960-1988) is the youngest of the group. Decades later, after his children and wife died, he went to the city.

His white teacher told his all-black class they were all destined to be porters and waiters. Many Thanks for Your Support. Beautiful.

In short order he was on his own, working odd jobs as a piano player, porter and waiter. Among the earliest expatriate artists, Henry O. Tanner went to Paris to shed the burden of American prejudice. What inspired Jacob Lawrence to “make a world” celebrating African American life and documenting American history? Art History and Artists for Kids.
Arguably one of the most successful artists in American history, growing up in Brooklyn, Jean-Michel Basquiat dedicated himself early to making art, which he learned about from his mother. CT. SUPPORT CULTURE TYPE “That’s where I am right now, painting what’s inside me, sharing stories of my past and the joys and fears inside me,” Jeanne Walker Harvey writes in this first-person account.

To help sustain it, make a one-time donation or sign up for a recurring monthly contribution. | Published Feb. 1, 2015. Expressing complex ideas about race and culture, his abstract paintings featured text, figures, and symbols such as crowns, and paid tribute to black icons, including jazz legends such as Charlie Parker and athletic figures like Muhammad Ali. “People describe him as radiant, wild, a genius child, but in his heart he is king, so he draws crowns for himself and others he admires,” author Javaka Steptoe writes. Eventually he was able to steady his hand and create his first oil painting. Black History Month takes place every October.

Growing up in Lenox, Mass., VanDerZee saved his own money to buy his first camera and by fifth grade was his school’s official photographer, eventually becoming the town photographer. What is an art movement?

An artist and activist, he was born in Plainview, Ga., where black people worked in cotton fields for white bosses. “It Jes’ Happened: When Bill Traylor Started to Draw,” by Don Tate, illustrated by R. Gregory Christie (Lee & Low, 32 pages; Ages 6-11). When most teens went to work full-time in the fields, Andrews’s mother arranged for him to attend high school. Receive new posts and newsletter in your inbox. Proud of her work, she hung paintings for sale on a clothes line and they sold.

He became the first black photographer at Vogue and Life magazines. Revolution on Trial: Exploring the Black Panther Party’s Legacy in New Haven, Conn. Please consider supporting its ongoing production by making a donation. The artist moved to Harlem when he was 13 to live with his mother, and the color of the blue carpet, men playing chess outside his building, and fast pace of mothers walking to work captured his imagination, and eventually appeared in his paintings. She is considered the first self-taught African American woman artist to capture national attention.

Despite his teacher’s low expectations, Parks is among the most famous photographers in the world. Inspired by his 1964 collage “Watching the Good Trains Go By” this lyrical tale recounts Romare Bearden’s 1914 move from Charlotte, N.C., to Harlem. Race is a factor in their lives, but does not curb their determination.

The typical eccentric, struggling artist, he moved downtown to pursue his dreams. Culture Type is a solo editorial project that requires countless hours and expense to research, report, write, and produce. Culture Type® is also an affiliate of Bookshop.org, whose mission is to financially support local, independent bookstores. Many Thanks for Your Support.

Married with grandchildren, Hunter was already in her 50s. | Published April 1, 2012.