February is a time of celebration, a month wherein we acknowledge the people fundamental to the essence of our country and reflect on how far we’ve got to go. If it is widely accepted that artists are the purveyors of culture, then the Black communities of our country have been elemental in setting the course of our collective way of life. *

Throughout the history of the African Diaspora, artists and creatives have been purged from or simply intentionally buried by the canon of recorded memory.  An ironic reality is that Black art and culture in America has been part of the bedrock of our society, and yet experiences constant othering and repression. Starting, informing, and cultivating some of the most significant cultural shifts in our young country, the importance of Black artists, not only in America but worldwide, has been grossly overlooked.