Ringgold’s work as an artist, an activist, and an educator has influenced both the art world and communities beyond the art world. Her founding or co-founding of many arts organizations focused on issues faced by women of color has created many opportunities for those artists.
Walker always insisted that her job was to jolt viewers out of their comfort zone, and even make them angry, once remarking “I make art for anyone who’s forgot what it feels like to put up a fight.” In 2007, TIME magazine featured Walker on its list of the 100 most influential Americans. In 2008 when the artist was still in her thirties, The Whitney held a retrospective of Walker’s work. Though Walker herself is still in mid-career, her illustrious example has emboldened a generation of slightly younger artists to investigate the persistence and complexity of racial stereotyping.
Lorna Simpson’s interrogation of race and gender issues with a minimal, sophisticated interplay between art and language has made her a much respected and influential figure within the realms of visual culture.
ʿIṣmat ad-Dīn Khātūn was the daughter of a regent of Damascus, and wife of two of the 12th century’s greatest Muslim generals, Nur ad-Din and Saladin.
During the US Civil War, runaway slave couple Dabney and Lucy Ann Walker provided Union General Joseph Hooker with valuable intelligence.
Alice Coachman was the first Black woman from any country to win an Olympic gold medal. Growing up in the segregated South, she overcame discrimination and unequal access to inspire generations of other black athletes to reach for their athletic goals.
Her music combines a rich and romantic symphonic idiom with the melodic intimacy and emotional intensity of African-American spirituals. As Alex Ross wrote in The New Yorker, her music “deserves to be widely heard.”
Piper’s distinctly confrontational ability to address pertinent topics around racial segregation and stereotyping have established her voice as one which is fearless, powerful, and hugely influential.
The founder and president of the Muslim Women’s National Network, she has become a leading spokesperson for her community, and in 2004 served on Prime Minister Howard’s Muslim Community Reference Group.
Agnes Nebo von Ballmoos was a Liberian music professor, Liberian folk music scholar, conductor, composer, and lawyer. She helped preserve Liberian folk music by collecting and transcribing music from diverse cultural traditions around the country and composing original arrangements of traditional songs. She was a pioneer in the transcription of Liberian folk songs into written form and taught at the University of Liberia for nearly 30 years. Under her leadership, the university choir gave concerts at venues around the world, performing a varied repertoire that included classical pieces, spirituals, and traditional Liberian music.