October was Black History Month…

…and as part of this we asked OCA programme leaders to share some important practitioners to point students towards and remember artists and events in the history of the African diaspora.

This is list is just the beginning of a longer one we hope, please add to it in the comments below.
CREATIVE WRITING
Malorie Blackman
Maya Angelou
Alice Walker
Sam Selvon
Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
Chinua Achebe
Courttia Newland
MUSIC
Chineke Orchestra

Samuel Coleridge-Taylor
William Grant Still

Valerie Coleman

Adolphus Hailstork

Hannah Kendall

Tania Leon

Errolyn Wallen

Ayanna Witter Johnson
Julius Eastman https://weareoca.com/education/julius-eastman-1940-1990/
VISUAL ARTS
EXHIBITION: William Kentridge currently at the Whitworth Gallery, Manchester – the link is http://www.whitworth.manchester.ac.uk/whats-on/exhibitions/currentexhibitions/williamkentridge/

He is a white artist but his work deals African history and colonialism through animation and drawing
#drawingwhileblack A twitter account where young BAME illustrators post their work and associated instagram account https://www.instagram.com/explore/tags/drawingwhileblack/?hl=en
GRAPHIC NOVEL: ‘March’, a trilogy of recent long-form comic books about the Civil Rights movement written by American Congressman John Lewis and drawn by Andrew Aydin, published by Top Shelf Productions.

COMIC BOOK: ‘Shuri’, a new Marvel comic about the Black Panther’s sister written by female Afrofuturist author Dr Nnedi Okorafor.
Theaster Gates https://weareoca.com/subject/fine-art/my-labor-is-my-protest/

Mark Bradford
Harold Offeh
https://www.blackhistorymonth.org.uk/