The original plan to update the blog daily with sketches for Black History Month isn’t happening, unfortunately… but at the very least I’m going to post the sketches I HAVE done thus far, and will keep doing so throughout the month.
First, let’s start with Jackie Ormes, first African American lady cartoonist and stellar lady.
She was also one of the few people to address (at the time) modern black issues in cartoons at a time in history when people wouldn’t even touch the subject. Check out her comics and cartoons on her site to see what I mean.
There’s also Langston Hughes, poet of the Harlem Renaissance:
My personal favorite poems of his are The Negro Speaks of Rivers and I, Too. Crash Course: Literature also has an episode about his life and poetry.
There’s also Zora Neale Hurston, writer of ‘Their Eyes Were Watching God’ and chronicler of stories told in the oral tradition.
And to wrap up this post, I’m including a sketch I did way back for The Women Warriors Project I ran for a little bit. The Women Warriors Project was an endeavor to illustrate and chronicle women in history who fought in wars of the past.
This marvelous warrior is Nzinga Mbande, queen of Ndongo and Matamba in the 17th century.
Her highness Mbande originally allied with the Portuguese to fight against some neighboring kingdoms, because the kingdoms wanted to conquer hers. After successfully fighting them off, the Portuguese turned on Mbande and sought to conquer her kingdom to get slaves. She fought against them, with aid from the Dutch, for years. You can read more about her on this site.
Hope you stick around for more art and history!
Thank you for reading.
You. Are. Awesome.