Biographies Archives - Picturing Black History

Jimi Hendrix performs onstage at the Monterey Pop Festival on June 18, 1967 in Monterey, California.

Wild Thing: Hendrix at Monterey

The Legend of Jimi Hendrix was born on June 18th 1967 at the Monterey International Pop Festival.

Phillis Wheatley (1753-1784). Portrait of American poet seated at a desk writing with a quill pen. Undated hand-tinted color engraving with an original caption which reads: "Phillis Wheatley, Negro servant to Mr. John Wheatley, of Boston."

Picturing Early Black Women Leaders

From Phillis Wheatley Peters to Ida B. Wells-Barnett, leading Black women activists defined their public images through their portraits to advance their ideas.

PARIS - JANUARY 1974; Black Panther and writer Eldridge Cleaver, an exile from American justice, and wife Kathleen sit in their apartment in Paris France during their exile circa 1974

The Life of Eldridge Cleaver

Author of Soul on Ice and one of the most recognized activists for Black internationalism, Eldridge Cleaver went from militance to obscurity.

The Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater perform 'Revelations' at Sadler's Wells in London, UK, June 1973.

Alvin Ailey’s Pluralistic Vision for America

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

July 1972: A group of youths spraypaint graffiti on a New York wall.

The Graffiti Art Movement in Philadelphia

“Coming to a Wall Near You!” From the 1960s to 1980s, Black teenagers in Philadelphia convinced the world that graffiti wasn’t vandalism, but public art rooted in protest and self-expression.

Eduardo Kobra's 'Muddy Waters Tribute' mural, part of the Wabash Arts Corridor is displayed downtown in Chicago, Illinois on April 13, 2019.

Muddy Waters: Ain’t that a Man

Bluesman Muddy Waters went from the Mississippi cotton fields to Chicago and changed the face of American music.

Paul Robeson, singer, performer and civil rights activist, is welcomed in Russia, Moscow, Russia, January 19, 1935.

Paul Robeson in the Soviet Union

Between the 1930s and 1960s, the famous singer and actor made many visits to the world’s first socialist country, which made a lasting impression on his art and politics.

W. E. B. DuBois (1868-1963), American educator and writer.

The Souls of Black Folk

The life and work of W. E. B. Du Bois, writer, educator, and chronicler of Black life in America.

January 1922: Soccer player Jack Leslie from Plymouth Argyle FC.

The Erasure of Jack Leslie

The hidden story of the English national team’s first Black footballer.

The Nineteenth-Century Roots of Black Feminism

Sojourner Truth, Anna Julia Cooper, the National Association of Colored Women, and the foundations of Black women’s struggles today.

Photographs and stories that changed the world

Biographies