Theme
Music and Arts
Explore this theme across 77 historical figures, 55 heritage sites,4 lessons, 51 cultural references, and 2 journeys.
Historical Figures
A. Philip Randolph
1889–1979
Pullman Porters
–?
Alvin Ailey
1931–1989
Judith Jamison
1943–2024
Robert Battle
–?
Katherine Dunham
1909–2006
Ella Fitzgerald
1917–1996
Billie Holiday
1915–1959
James Brown
1933–2006
Gladys Knight
1944–?
Michael Jackson
1958–2009
Sarah Vaughan
1924–1990
Aretha Franklin
1942–2018
August Wilson
1945–2005
Denzel Washington
1954–?
Lloyd Richards
1919–2006
Robert S. Abbott
1870–1940
Oscar Stanton DePriest
–?
Ida B. Wells
1862–1931
Louis Armstrong
1901–1971
Charles H. Wright
1918–2002
Motown artists
–?
Coleman Young
1918–1997
Charles Harrison Mason
1864–1961
Martin Luther King Jr.
1929–1968
Andraé Crouch
1942–2015
Enslaved African Americans
–?
Arthur Mitchell
1934–2018
Karel Shook
1920–1985
Virginia Johnson
1928–2007
Paul Laurence Dunbar
1872–1906
Orville Wright
1871–1948
Wilbur Wright
1867–1912
Nat Love (Deadwood Dick)
–?
Wild Bill Hickok
1837–1876
Dr. Margaret Burroughs
1915–2010
Jean Baptiste Point DuSable
1745–1818
John Handy
1933–?
Saunders King
1909–2000
Fillmore jazz community
–?
Urban renewal displaced residents
–?
Fisk Jubilee Singers
–?
W.E.B. Du Bois
1868–1963
John Hope Franklin
1915–2009
Nikki Giovanni
1943–2024
Adam K. Spence
1831–1900
Erastus Milo Cravath
1833–1900
Duke Ellington
1899–1974
Miles Davis
1926–1991
Minnie Evans
1892–1987
Five Points community leaders
–?
Kwame Akoto-Bamfo
1983–?
Hank Willis Thomas
1976–?
Bryan Stevenson
1959–?
1921 Massacre Survivors
1921–1921
Greenwood descendants
–?
Penn Center founders
–?
Gullah Geechee community leaders
–?
Sundiata Keita
1217–1255
Frederick Douglass
1818–1895
Harriet Tubman
1822–1913
Rosa Parks
1913–2005
Thurgood Marshall
1908–1993
Satchel Paige
1906–1982
Josh Gibson
1911–1947
Buck O'Neil
1911–2006
Jackie Robinson
1927–2022
Cool Papa Bell
1903–1991
Barack Obama
1961–?
Michelle Obama
1964–?
John Lewis
1940–2020
Harold Washington
1922–1987
Thomas A. Dorsey
1899–1993
Arturo Alfonso Schomburg
1874–1938
Langston Hughes
1902–1967
Zora Neale Hurston
1891–1960
James Baldwin
1924–1987
Heritage Sites
Acorn African American Cultural Center
Oakland, CA
AfricaMuseum (Royal Museum for Central Africa)
Tervuren, Belgium
Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater
New York, NY
Apollo Theater
New York, NY
August Wilson House (August Wilson Center)
Pittsburgh, PA
Bronzeville-Black Metropolis National Heritage Area
Chicago, IL
Caribbean Hill, Brooklyn
Brooklyn, NY
Charles H. Wright Museum of African American History
Detroit, MI
Church of God in Christ (COGIC) — World Headquarters
Memphis, TN
Coahoma Community College
Clarksdale, MS
Congo Square / Louis Armstrong Park
New Orleans, LA
Dance Theater of Harlem
New York, NY
Dayton Aviation Heritage National Historical Park
Dayton, OH
Deadwood National Historic Landmark
Deadwood, SD
Dillard University
New Orleans, LA
DuSable Black History Museum and Education Center
Chicago, IL
Fillmore District — Harlem of the West
San Francisco, CA
Fisk University / Jubilee Hall
Nashville, TN
Five Points — Welton Street Cultural Historic District
Denver, CO
Florida A&M University
Tallahassee, FL
Freedom Monument Sculpture Park
Montgomery, Alabama
Grambling State University
Grambling, LA
Greenwood Cultural Center
Tulsa, OK
Gullah Geechee Cultural Heritage Corridor
Beaufort, SC
Iziko Museums of South Africa
Cape Town, South Africa
Little Haiti, Miami
Miami, FL
Memorial to Enslaved People (Plantation - Prosperity and Nightmare)
Lisbon, Portugal
Mezquita-Catedral de Córdoba (Great Mosque of Córdoba)
Córdoba, Spain
Minton's Playhouse
New York, NY
Museo Afroperuano de Zaña
Zaña, Lambayeque
Museo Casa de África
Havana, La Habana
Museo de las Culturas Afromestizas "Vicente Guerrero Saldaña"
Cuajinicuilapa, Guerrero
Museu Afro Brasil
São Paulo, São Paulo
Museu Afro-Brasileiro (MAFRO)
Salvador, Bahia
Museum of Black Civilizations
Dakar, Unknown
Museum of West African Art (MOWAA)
Benin City, Unknown
Musée du Quai Branly – Jacques Chirac
Paris, France
National Museum of African American History and Culture
Washington, DC
National Museum of African Art
Washington, District of Columbia
National Museum of Colombia
Bogotá, Bogotá D.C.
National Museums of Kenya
Nairobi, Kenya
Negro Leagues Baseball Museum
Kansas City, MO
Nkyinkyim Museum
Nuhalenya-Ada, Unknown
Obama Presidential Center
Chicago, Illinois
Pan African Heritage Museum
Winneba, Ghana
Panthéon – Josephine Baker Crypt
Paris, Unknown
Pilgrim Baptist Church
Chicago, IL
Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture
New York, NY
Small's Paradise
New York, NY
Studio Museum in Harlem
New York, NY
Talladega College
Talladega, AL
Tennessee State University
Nashville, TN
The British Museum
London, United Kingdom
Théâtre des Champs-Élysées
Paris, Unknown
Tougaloo College
Tougaloo, MS
Curriculum Lessons
Cultural References
A Change Is Gonna Come
Sam Cooke · Music · 1964
American People Series #18: The Flag Is Bleeding
Faith Ringgold · Visual Art · 1967
August Wilson's Century Cycle
August Wilson · Literature · 1982
Black Business in Chicago, 1899
African American Photographs Assembled for the 1900 Paris Exposition · Photography · 1899
Black Chicago and the Great Migration
Unknown photographer · Photography · 1910
Black Education and Institution-Building, 1900
W. E. B. Du Bois and Thomas J. Calloway / 1900 Paris Exposition photographs · Photography · 1900
Black Girl's Window
Betye Saar · Visual Art · 1969
Black Panther
Ryan Coogler · Film · 2018
Blues
Archibald Motley · Visual Art · 1929
Couple in Raccoon Coats
James VanDerZee · Photography · 1932
Do the Right Thing
Spike Lee · Film · 1989
Ethiopia
Meta Warrick Fuller · Visual Art · 1921
Forever Free
Edmonia Lewis · Visual Art · 1867
Frederick Douglass, 1870s Portrait
Unknown photographer · Photography · 1870
Gordon Parks: Civil Rights and Black Power
Gordon Parks · Photography · 1967
Harlem Gang Leader Series
Gordon Parks · Photography · 1942
Harlem Renaissance: Community and Everyday Life
Unknown photographers / Harlem Renaissance archive · Photography · 1930
Harvest Talk
Charles White · Visual Art · 1953
Homecoming: A Film by Beyoncé
Beyoncé Knowles-Carter · Documentary · 2019
Insecure
Issa Rae · Series · 2016
Into Bondage
Aaron Douglas · Visual Art · 1936
Kindergarten at Haines Normal and Industrial Institute
African American Photographs Assembled for the 1900 Paris Exposition · Photography · 1899
Lemonade
Beyoncé · Music · 2016
Les Fétiches
Loïs Mailou Jones · Visual Art · 1938
Lift Every Voice and Sing
James Weldon Johnson · Music · 1900
Lift Every Voice and Sing (The Harp)
Augusta Savage · Visual Art · 1939
Migrating Birds
Norman Lewis · Visual Art · 1954
Roy DeCarava: Civil Rights and Everyday Life
Roy DeCarava · Photography · 1963
Say It Loud — I'm Black and I'm Proud
James Brown · Music · 1968
Sharecropper
Elizabeth Catlett · Visual Art · 1946
Strange Days in America
Code Switch / NPR · Podcast · 2016
Strange Fruit
Billie Holiday · Music · 1939
Suddenly It's Spring
Alma Thomas · Visual Art · 1970
The Banjo Lesson
Henry Ossawa Tanner · Visual Art · 1893
The Block
Romare Bearden · Visual Art · 1971
The Color Purple
Alice Walker · Literature · 1982
The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air
Andy Borowitz / Susan Borowitz · Series · 1990
The Janitor Who Paints
Palmer Hayden · Visual Art · 1930
The Migration Series
Jacob Lawrence · Visual Art · 1940
The Migration Series, Panel 1
Jacob Lawrence · Visual Art · 1940
The Mis-Education of Lauryn Hill
Lauryn Hill · Music · 1998
The Trees, Early Afternoon, France
William A. Harper · Visual Art · 1905
The Wiz
Charlie Smalls / William F. Brown · Music · 1975
The Young Sabot Maker
Henry Ossawa Tanner · Visual Art · 1895
Their Eyes Were Watching God
Zora Neale Hurston · Literature · 1937
This Little Light of Mine
Fannie Lou Hamer / Spiritual Tradition · Music · 1963
To Be Young, Gifted and Black
Nina Simone · Music · 1969
To Pimp a Butterfly
Kendrick Lamar · Music · 2015
What's Going On
Marvin Gaye · Music · 1971
Women Sorting Tobacco in Richmond, Virginia
African American Photographs Assembled for the 1900 Paris Exposition · Photography · 1899
Woodworking Workshop at Claflin University
African American Photographs Assembled for the 1900 Paris Exposition · Photography · 1899