Black History Month 2025: Wrap-Up

Thank you so much for keeping me company this Black History Month!

To recap, in 2017, I illustrated nineteen legendary Black figures. In 2019, I wrote short biographies to go with each. A few years after that, I expanded the biographies and added photos and videos.

This year, I gave each figure a full blog post. Each post has an illustration, a biography interspersed with photos and videos, links to further reading, watching, and listening, and a list of sources.

Here are the figures that I covered:

Diahann Carroll as Julia
The first Black actress to star in her own TV series not playing a domestic worker

James Jamerson
One of the most influential bass players in music history

Sister Rosetta Tharpe
A singer, songwriter & guitarist who is referred to as the "godmother of rock and roll"

The Nicholas Brothers
A team of dancing brothers who performed flash dancing, a form of tap dance that combined jazz with acrobatics

Ann Lowe
The first Black person to become a noted fashion designer

Oscar Micheaux
The first major Black filmmaker and the most successful Black filmmaker of the first half of the 20th century

Althea Gibson
The first Black athlete to cross the color line of international tennis and golf

Benjamin O. Davis, Jr.
The first Black general officer in the US Air Force and the commander of the 99th Flying Training Squadron, known as the Tuskegee Airmen

Josephine Holloway
The first Black Girl Scout Troop Leader

Arthur Mitchell
The first Black person to become a principal dancer with a major ballet troupe, the New York City Ballet

Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis
One of the greatest producing duos in the history of music

Henry Ossawa Tanner
The first Black painter to gain international acclaim for his depiction of landscapes and biblical themes

Matthew Henson
The first Black Arctic explorer and a part of the small group considered to be the first to reach the geographic North Pole in 1909

Marian Anderson
The legendary Black classical singer whose 1939 performance at the Lincoln Memorial raised awareness of racial discrimination

Paul R. Williams
The first Black member of the American Institute of Architects

Jane Bolin
The first Black woman to graduate from Yale Law School and the first Black woman judge in the United States

What's Going On - Marvin Gaye
One of the greatest albums of the 20th century and one of the landmark recordings in pop music history

Josephine Baker
The world famous entertainer, WWII spy, and civil rights activist

James Baldwin
One of the 20th century’s greatest writers

It’s funny. I really love learning new things, illustrating them, and then sharing said things, but I had no idea so many people liked it too.

Folks on Instagram mentioned the idea of continuing to have illustrations of Black History figures and their bios year round. I like that. I'll keep going here on my blog!

By the way, if you’re interested in buying any of my Black History Month illustrations as art prints, they’re all available here on my online shop.

As long as you keep your head to the sky,
Alleanna

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