In recognition of Black History Month 2026, NOMA Museum Shop has compiled a list of seven titles highlighting the contributions of Black artists working across mediums to American art, culture, and thought across the nation’s history. Learn more about each reading recommendation below.
Black Artists in America: From the Great Depression to Civil Rights by Earnestine Jenkins
Part one of Jenkins’s survey of Black American artists for Yale University Press, this title examines the ways these artists responded to the political, social, and economic climate of the United States from 1929 through the Brown v. Board of Education decision.
Black Artists in America: From Civil Rights to the Bicentennial by Earnestine Jenkins
Follow your read of Jenkins’s first title in the Black Artists in America series with a look at the development of Black American artistry through the 1960s and 1970s.
Called to the Camera: Black American Studio Photographers by Brian Piper, Russell Lord, John Edwin Mason Jr., and Carla Williams
Called to the Camera offers a comprehensive history of Black studio photographers in America, who operated on the developing edge of popular media to produce affirming portraits for their clients, as well as photos within their communities.
Picturing Freedom: Black Americans and their Cars by Stanley M. Bruns, MD, and Elizabeth A. Burns
Featuring over 450 unique personal photographs from the 1900s through the 1980s, this 2022 IPPY award-winning compilation offers an inspiring visual narrative of Black American life, culture, and self-expression through car ownership in the 20th century.
A Short History of Black Craft in Ten Objects by Robell Awake
Through ten brilliantly illustrated essays, Atlanta-based chair-maker and scholar Robell Awake tells the stories of Black artisans across history and the impact of their craftsmanship on American decorative arts and design.
Envisioning Emancipation: Black Americans and the End of Slavery by Deborah Willis and Barbra Krauthamer
The 150 photographs featured in this book provide new perspectives on the lives, self expressions, and impacts of African Americans born before and after the Emancipation Proclamation through portraiture.
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Hayward Oubre: Structural Integrity edited by Katelyn D. Crawford
This is the first book devoted to the life and work of the New Orleans-born modernist Hayward Oubre. The title brings together important examples of Oubre’s sculptures, paintings, and prints to explore his career, creative process, and legacy.