Suzanna Ogunjami’s "A Nupe Princess" depicts an older woman who is a royal member of the Nupe kingdom, an ethnic group in central Nigeria. Wearing a red, green, and black necklace, the woman illustrates the colors of pan-Africanism. This not only acts as a reflection of the artist's Igbo-Jamaican identity but also as Ogunjami’s efforts to preserve West African artistic traditions. From Igbo (Nigerian) ancestry, Ogunjami emigrated from West Africa to Jamaica and again to New York City, where she was active from 1928–1934 and became the first African woman to have a solo exhibit in a commercial gallery in the United States. Her commentary on "Nupe Princess" was recorded at the opening of her 1934 one-woman exhibition at Delphic Studios and can be found in the out-takes of A Study of Negro Artists, a 1930s film funded by the Harmon Foundation. Ogunjami's date of birth is unknown, and her own written accounts contrast with U.S. Census and marriage records, which state that she was born in Jamaica while Ogunjami claimed Nigeria as her birthplace. At a young age, she moved to Jamaica where she finished her primary education, and then moved to New York City. She took courses in textiles and fine arts at Teachers College of Columbia University, graduated with a Bachelor of Science degree, and a Masters of Fine Arts degree in arts education. In New York City, Ogunjami married Matthew Wilson, an Episcopal clergyman. To follow Wilson's wishes to return to his homeland, Sierra Leone, the couple departed New York permanently for Freetown in 1935. She then founded the West African Normal and Industrial Institute in Freetown, as well as another school located 12 miles outside of the city. Ogunjami's date and place of death are unknown; correspondence ceased between her and the Harmon Foundation after 1941. It is believed that Ogunjami returned to Jamaica and passed away before 1960.

"A Nupe Princess" by Suzanna Ogunjami (Igbo-Jamaican-American) - Oil on canvas / 1934 - Fisk University Galleries (Nashville, Tennessee) #WomenInArt #ArtText #art #OilPainting #SuzannaOgunjami #Ogunjami #WomanArtist #FemaleArtist #womensart #portraitofawoman #FiskUniversityGalleries #princess

Zora Neale Hurston was an anthropologist and literary giant, perhaps best known for her novel Their Eyes Were Watching God. In both her research and writing, Hurston's work centered on Black stories, experiences, and culture, both in the American South and in the African diaspora. As a young adult, Hurston attended Howard University to pursue an associate's degree. Her legacy at the institution is still felt to this day as she was the co-founder of The Hilltop, the nation's oldest still-running Black collegiate newspaper. Though Hurston was posthumously celebrated for her contributions to literature, during her life she was often underpaid and remained in poverty for much of her career and up until her death in 1960. This quiet, refined 1926 portrait by Harlem Renaissance artist Aaron Douglas shows Hurston sitting in a chair wearing a brown cloche hat and burnt orange coat with a fur stole. Her tremendous energy for life was legendary, but here she’s calm, relaxed, and at ease in the company of a friend. Douglas's paintings and illustrations often pulsate with the energy and optimism of the Harlem Renaissance, that extraordinary flowering of African-American culture that burst forth in New York in the 1920s and 1930s. While he was not the first black artist to find inspiration in his African heritage, he was the first to consistently blend African imagery with contemporary subject matter and in modernist forms. Douglas, who has been called "the father of black American art," became a premier visual artist of the Harlem Renaissance.

Miss Zora Neale Hurston by Aaron Douglas (American) - Pastel on canvas / 1926 - Fisk University Galleries (Nashville, Tennessee) #womeninart #art #pastelart #AaronDouglas #artwork #pastel #FiskUniversityGalleries #fineart #AfricanAmericanArt #AfricanAmericanArtist #HarlemRenaissance #FiskUniversity