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New York Times

New York Times: Photographic Portraits of the Year's Best Actors (2004)

For Students 9th - 10th
This portfolio of black-and-white portraits of Oscar-nominated film stars captures a range of faces, poses, moods, and points of view. Excellent site for comparing and criticizing artistic choices and approaches and for inspiring...
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Handout
Encyclopedia Britannica

Encyclopedia Britannica: Kara Walker

For Students 9th - 10th
Biographical information on Kara walker, an American installation artist who used intricate cut-paper silhouettes, together with collage, drawing, painting, performance, film, video, shadow puppetry, light projection, and animation, to...
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Handout
Encyclopedia Britannica

Encyclopedia Britannica: Augusta Savage

For Students 9th - 10th
Read interesting facts about the life of American sculptor and educator, Augusta Savage, who battled racism to secure a place for African American women in the art world.
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Handout
Encyclopedia Britannica

Encyclopedia Britannica: Kerry James Marshall

For Students 9th - 10th
This entry from Encyclopedia Britannica features Kerry James Marshall, an African American painter and printmaker whose work examines aspects of black culture in the United States. His unique images extend the grand traditions of history...
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Handout
Encyclopedia Britannica

Encyclopedia Britannica: Henry Ossawa Tanner

For Students 9th - 10th
Brief biography on Henry Tanner, an American painter who gained international acclaim for his depiction of landscapes and biblical themes.
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Website
John F. Kennedy Center

The Kennedy Center: Alvin Ailey

For Students 9th - 10th
At this site from the John F. Kennedy Center you can read about the life and accomplishments of American choreographer, Alvin Ailey.
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Website
Other

Whitney Museum: Jacob Lawrence: Exploring Stories

For Students 9th - 10th
A look at Jacob Lawrence and his art, and instructions on how to make your own tempera paints and "paint your own story," using Lawrence's work as inspiration.
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Website
Art Institute of Chicago

Art Institute of Chicago: Art Access: Aaron Douglas: Aspects of Negro Life

For Students 9th - 10th
This resource presents information about a preparatory gouache made by Douglas, in 1934, for a mural commissioned by the Works Progress Administration.
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Handout
Encyclopedia Britannica

Encyclopedia Britannica: George Allan Russell

For Students 9th - 10th
This entry from Encyclopedia Britannica features George Allan Russell, an American jazz artist born June 23, 1923, Cincinnati, Ohio .
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Website
PBS

Pbs News Hour: Hollywood Blacklisting

For Students 9th - 10th
Provides a written transcript or a Real Audio version of the interview of two blacklisted artists.
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Unit Plan
TED Talks

Ted: Ted Ed: How Art Gives Shape to Cultural Change

For Students 9th - 10th
Thelma Golden, curator at the Studio Museum in Harlem, talks through three recent shows that explore how art examines and redefines culture. The "post-black" artists she works with are using their art to provoke a new dialogue about race...
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Handout
Encyclopedia Britannica

Encyclopedia Britannica: Guide to Black History: Duke Ellington

For Students 9th - 10th
Biography of Duke Ellington, one of the originators of big band jazz, and a noted composer.
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Website
Other

Ernie barnes.com

For Students 9th - 10th
Ernie Barnes is renowned in two fields of endeavor. He was a professional football player in the 1960s, but gained more recognition as a painter than as a player. This site offers a biography as well as images of many of his paintings.
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Handout
Other

Madison Museum of Contemporary Art: Romare Bearden

For Students 9th - 10th
The Madison Museum of Contemporary Art contains a summary of Bearden's life, some of his art, key ideas, discussion questions, and links to additional resources.
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Website
Rock and Roll Hall of Fame

Rock & Roll Hall of Fame: Bessie Smith

For Students 9th - 10th
Read detailed biographical information on the "Empress of the Blues", Bessie Smith, a 1989 inductee into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Includes a timeline of key events and essential songs list.
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Graphic
Curated OER

Introduction

For Students 9th - 10th
This site explores Black America's quest for equality from the early national period through the twentieth century. Content includes the work of abolitionists in the first half of the nineteenth century, depictions of the long journey...
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Handout
Encyclopedia Britannica

Encyclopedia Britannica: Laura Wheeler Waring

For Students 9th - 10th
Short biographical sketch on Laura Wheeler Waring, an American painter and educator who often depicted African American subjects.
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Handout
Encyclopedia Britannica

Encyclopedia Britannica: Herbie Hancock

For Students 9th - 10th
This entry from Encyclopedia Britannica features Herbie Hancock, an American keyboard player, songwriter, and bandleader, a prolific recording artist who achieved success as an incisive, harmonically provocative jazz pianist and then...
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Handout
Encyclopedia Britannica

Encyclopedia Britannica: Shirley Horn

For Students 9th - 10th
This entry from Encyclopedia Britannica features Shirley Horn, an American jazz artist whose ballads, sung in a breathy contralto to her own piano accompaniment, earned her both critical acclaim and popular renown. This site, rich in...
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Handout
Encyclopedia Britannica

Encyclopedia Britannica: R. Kelly

For Students 9th - 10th
This entry from Encyclopedia Britannica features R. Kelly, an American singer, songwriter, producer, and multi-instrumentalist who became one of the best-selling rhythm-and-blues (R&B) artists of the 1990s and early 21st century....
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Handout
Encyclopedia Britannica

Encyclopedia Britannica: Janet Jackson

For Students 9th - 10th
This entry from Encyclopedia Britannica features Janet Jackson, an American singer and actress whose increasingly mature version of dance-pop music made her one of the most popular recording artists of the 1980s and '90s.
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Handout
Encyclopedia Britannica

Encyclopedia Britannica: Kanye West

For Students 9th - 10th
This entry from Encyclopedia Britannica features Kanye West, an American producer and rapper who parlayed his production success in the late 1990s and early 2000s into a career as a popular, critically acclaimed solo artist.
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Handout
Encyclopedia Britannica

Encyclopedia Britannica: Little Brother Montgomery

For Students 9th - 10th
This entry from Encyclopedia Britannica features Little Brother Montgomery, a major African-American blues artist who was also an outstanding jazz pianist and vocalist. He cowrote "The Forty-Fours," a complex composition for piano that...
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Handout
Encyclopedia Britannica

Encyclopedia Britannica: Ludacris

For Students 9th - 10th
This entry from Encyclopedia Britannica features Ludacris, an American rapper who exemplified the Dirty South school of hip-hop, an exuberant, profanity-laden musical style popularized by artists in the southern United States. Ludacris's...