October 8

Faith Ringgold, born Faith Willi Jones, on October 8, 1930 in Harlem, NY was an American art educator, artist and author best known for her innovative painted story quilts which narrated African American history and Ringgold’s political beliefs.

Growing up in Harlem, Jones decided in high school to be an artist. She went on to graduate from City College of New York in 1955 with a degree in fine arts and education, and in 1959 an M.A. in fine arts. She taught art in New York public schools from the mid 1950s through the 1970s.

In 1962, Jones married her second husband, Burdette Ringgold, assuming his surname for which she is well known.

By the 1960s Ringgold’s paintings reflected her emerging political ideologies, her interest in African arts and history, and her artistic style of freedom of form.

During the 1970s Ringgold’s political activism matched and ultimately merged with her artistic endeavors. She frequently lectured at feminist art conferences and in 1970 co-founded the advocacy group Women Students and Artists for Black Art Liberation.

Ringgold fought to racially integrate the New York art scene, organizing a demonstration at the Whitney Museum of American Art, which had conspicuously excluded Black artists from one of its major shows. In her own work, Ringgold began to expand beyond painting to include different types of media, including soft sculptures and masks.

In the 1980s, Ringgold introduced her “story quilts,” painted narrative images and original stories of African American history on fabric. They remain some of her most celebrated works. Among the most well-known include:

• “Who’s Afraid of Aunt Jemima?” (1984),
• “Sonny’s Quilt” (1986), and
• “Tar Beach” (1988), which she adapted into a 1991 children’s book. The story of a young Black girl in New York City who dreams about flying, it was designated a Caldecott Honor Book in 1992.

Ringgold’s other children’s book titles include:

• “Aunt Harriet’s Underground Railroad in the Sky” (1992),
• “My Dream of Martin Luther King “(1995),
• “Harlem Renaissance Party” (2015), and
• “We Came to America” (2016).

Faith Ringgold continued to quilt and teach art at University of California at San Diego until her retirement in 2002. She spent the final decades of her life pursuing art in her private Englewood, NJ studio until her death on April 13, 2024 at the age of 93.

Note:
The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica. “Faith Ringgold.” Encyclopedia Britannica, 9 Apr. 2025. Accessed 14 July 2025.