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.
From Phillis Wheatley Peters to Ida B. Wells-Barnett, leading Black women activists defined their public images through their portraits to advance their ideas.
Author of Soul on Ice and one of the most recognized activists for Black internationalism, Eldridge Cleaver went from militance to obscurity.
The famed choreographer used his art to emphasize the universal resonance of African American stories.
“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.
Bluesman Muddy Waters went from the Mississippi cotton fields to Chicago and changed the face of American music.
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.
The life and work of W. E. B. Du Bois, writer, educator, and chronicler of Black life in America.
The hidden story of the English national team’s first Black footballer.
Sojourner Truth, Anna Julia Cooper, the National Association of Colored Women, and the foundations of Black women’s struggles today.
Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. opposed racism, imperialism, and capitalist inequity at home and around the world.
© 2021–2025 This project is a collaboration of Getty Images and Origins: Current Events in Historical Perspective.
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