Browse our collection of history's most famous artists, whose striking, pioneering artwork has depicted progressive interpretations as well as personal and historic events. Explore full biographies, and view photos and videos, of notable artists such as Jeff Koons, Romare Bearden, Jackson Pollack, Andy Warhol, Leonardo da Vinci, Michelangelo, Frida Kahlo, Pablo Picasso, Vincent van Gogh and more, only at Biography.com.
They are the famous African-American artists who have exquisitely shared portrayals of historic events and individuals, cultural perspectives, and the experiences and struggles of minorities through their artwork. Examine our list of pivotal black artists, including Jean-Michel Basquiat, who helped to bring African-American and Latino experiences into the elite art world through his graffiti works; Augusta Savage, a sculptor and leading artist of the Harlem Renaissance, who experienced racial discrimination by an art program's selection committee; and Kara Walker, who has used paper silhouettes to depict race and gender relations.
They are the famous African-American writers who have fearlessly examined cultural stigmas, provided intimate life details, presented new ideas and created remarkable fiction through literary works. For their prophetic genius, these men and women have received Pulitzer Prizes, NAACP awards and even Nobel Prizes, among other honors. Our list of prominent African-American authors includes Toni Morrison, who has detailed the lives of black characters who struggle with identity amidst racism and hostility; Langston Hughes, a founder of the Harlem Renaissance; and Maya Angelou, who has eloquently chronicled various eras of her life through her autobiographies.
A good editor has a keen eye for truth and the ability to strip away extraneous noise to let that truth shine through. In the pages of newspapers and magazines, female editors have spoken out on weighty issues like abolition and women's suffrage, and given us the literally weighty September issues of Vogue. Mary Ann Shadd Cary gave a voice to freed slaves in the weekly Provincial Freemen, Susan B. Anthony’s newspaper Revolution fueled just that, and Dorothy Day’s The Catholic Worker tackled important topics in an effort to improve society as a whole. Television’s 60 Minutes set new standards for investigative journalism, thanks to the Emmy-winning work of Lesley Stahl. From abolitionists and suffragettes to the religious and the radical, these female editors told their stories and shaped our worldview.
Visit Biography.com's Women's History group to explore more biographies, photos and videos of some the world's most fascinating women.
Like in Gone With the Wind, The Sun Also Rises after Twilight, even in a Pet Cemetary Where the Wild Things Are. But let's not be too morbid and discuss creepy things like The Satanic Verses or try to get an Interview With a Vampire from The Stranger Who Professes 'I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings.' Going round in round like this, you may never know Where the Sidewalk Ends, and that would be unfortunate since Uncle Tom's Cabin is just around the corner...
Okay, we could go on, but we won't torture you. You get the point. Our attempt at creative writing is nothing compared to the imaginative minds of our Famous Fiction Authors Group.
During the early 20th century, African-American poets, musicians, actors, artists and intellectuals moved to Harlem in New York City and brought new ideas that shifted the culture forever. From approximately 1918 to the mid 1930s, talent began to overflow within this newfound culture of the black community in Harlem, as prominent figures—Langston Hughes, Duke Ellington and Billie Holiday, to name a few—pushed art to its limit as a form of expression and representation. These are some of the famous African Americans who shaped the influential movement known as the Harlem Renaissance.
Meet famous people who share a birthday in July. Ernest Hemingway, Milton Berle, Bill Cosby, John Glenn, Selena Gomez, Woody Guthrie, Princess Diana, Nelson Mandela, Jane Lynch, and many more, are people who were born in July.
View famous people who died in 1981 such as Omar Bradley, Mary Lou Williams, and Elizabeth Kubler-Ross.
Meet famous people like Robin Gibb, Rita Hayworth, Jim Henson, and Joan Crawford, who died in the month of May.