Famous and Notable Black Women Posters, “S...-”
for the social studies classroom, home schoolers and theme decor.

Betye Saar
Edith Spurlock Sampson
Augusta Savage
Mary Seacole

Ntozake Shange
Nina Simone
Bessie Smith

Betye Saar

Betye Saar
b. 7-30-1926; Los Angeles, CA

Artist Betye Saar is best known for her work in the field of assemblage and collage. Saar collected stereotyped African-American images from advertising and folk culture, combining them into political and protest statements.

Edith Spurlock Sampson
b. 10-13-1901?; Pittsburgh, PA
d. 10-8-1979

Edith Spurlock Sampson, a social worker, lawyer and judge, was the first African-American appointed to represent the U.S. at the United Nations and to NATO. She served both Presidents Truman and Eisenhower, and at a high school career day in Houston inspired a young Barbara Jordan to become a lawyer.

Edith Spurlock Sampson quote ~
• “The question is, quite bluntly, ‘Do Negroes have equal rights in America?’ My answer is no, we do not have equal rights in all parts of the United States. But let's remember that 85 years ago Negroes in America were slaves and were 100 per cent illiterate. And the record shows that the Negro has advanced further in this period than any similar group in the entire world. You here get considerable misinformation about American Negroes and hear little or nothing that is constructive.” 1951

Augusta Savage - Stars of the Harlem Renaissance Poster

Augusta Savage
b. 2-29-1892, Green Cove Springs, FL
d. 1962

Poster text: While Augusta Savage is mostly known as a sculptor, she was also a wonderful art teacher and a tireless supporter of the rights of all artists, expecially black artist. But she was lucky that she was able to pursue her art at all. She grew up in Florida with thirteen brothers and sisters. Her father was a strict Methodist minister who believed that the Bible forbade creating "graven images." He punished Augusta whevever he found any of the small clay figurines she made as a child. But she did not let that get in her way. As she got older, she won awards for her work – and she also won her father's approval. She headed north to Harlem in 1921. ... more ...

• more Stars of the Harlem Renaissance posters

Mary Seacole
b. 1805; Jamaica
d. 5-14-1881

Mary Seacole, who was taught basic remedies and herbal medicine by her mother, spent her own money to travel to Crimea to help treat wounded soldiers after being rejected by Florence Nightingale's nursing program.

• Mary Seacole: The Black Woman Who Invented Modern Nursing
• Health posters

Ntozake Shange
née Paulette L. Williams
b. 10-18-1948; Trenton, NJ

Playwright and poet Ntozake Shange is a self proclaimed black feminist whose work addresses issues relating to race and feminism. Her best know play is For Colored Girls Who Have Considered Suicide When the Rainbow Is Enuf.

Nina Simone
née Eunice Kathleen Waymon
b. 2-21-1933; Tryon, NC
d. 4-21-2003; Mississippi

Singer, songwriter, pianist, arranger, and civil rights activist Nina Simone is most often associated with Jazz.

Bessie Smith
b. 4-15-1894; Chattanooga, TN
d. 9-26-1937; Mississippi

Bessie Smith is a key figure in the development of American blues and jazz. She was a protege of the great “Ma” Rainey and made her first recording, “Downhearted Blues”, in 1923 which established her as the most successful black recording artist of the day.

• Bessie Smith at Amazon.com

Mavis Staples
b. 7-10-1939; Chicago, IL

Mavis Staples, rhythm and blues and gospel singer, and civil rights activist, recorded with her family's band, The Staple Singers.

Susan McKinney Steward
née Smith
b. March, 1847; Brooklyn, NY
d. 3-7-1918; Wilberforce, OH

Susan McKinney Steward, the third Aftrican-Amercian woman to earn a medical degree, taught school in Washington, DC and New York in order to earn her tuition to medical school. She was also an author.

Maria W. Stewart
née Miller
b. 1803; Hartford, CT
d. 12-17-1879; Washington, DC

Maria Stewart, a public speaker, abolitionist, and feminist, was the first black woman to lecture about women’s rights.