Alvin Ailey’s Pluralistic Vision for America

The famed choreographer used his art to emphasize the universal resonance of African American stories.

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Historic Photos, Fresh Stories

The story of Black women and track and field through the lens of one of the early greats, Wilma Rudolph.
 
Once enslaved and later the first Black American to graduate from West Point, Henry Ossian Flipper is America’s overlooked, trailblazing antihero.
 
His victories, entrepreneurial spirit, and flamboyance in and out of the ring made Sugar Ray Robinson the quintessential modern athlete.
 

Pittsburgh’s segregated Hill District became a hub of jazz and Black culture. Charles “Teenie” Harris, the renowned photographer and chronicler of Black life, captured it all.

 

The influence of writer and musician Gil Scott-Heron is widely felt. However, assessing his legacy involves figuring out just what kind of artist he was.

 

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About Picturing Black History

Our Mission

The editorial team at Picturing Black History recognizes the importance of Black history as a subject of academic knowledge and a source of African diaspora identities. We embrace the power of images to capture stories of oppression and resistance, perseverance and resilience, freedom dreams, imagination, and joy within the United States and around the globe.

Picturing Black History emerged in the wake of national and international Black Lives Matter protests following the murder of George Floyd at the hands of four Minneapolis police officers in 2020. We recognize that Black Lives Matter is a contemporary outgrowth of a long history of Black racial protest in the United States. Picturing Black History is our collaborative effort to contribute to an ongoing public dialogue on the significance of Black history and Black life in the United States and throughout the globe.