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portrait of woman

Lucille Jeanette Bacote

L.J. Bacote, born Lucille Jeanette Bledsoe in Huntingdon, Tennessee, was a musician, teacher, and choir director who spent over 50 years leading the senior choir at Second Baptist Church. Specializing in organ, piano, voice, and choral directing, she demanded musical excellence and spread her musical passion to generations of church goers and students.

Etta Moten Barnett

Etta Moten Barnett

An actress and singer closely identified with the role of Bess in the opera Porgy and Bess, Etta Moten Barnett was born in Texas and studied music and drama at Western University in Kansas City, Kansas.

Vincent O. Carter

Vincent O. Carter

A child of the Great Depression, Vincent O. Carter was thankful for the comfortable upbringing his parents provided and devoted himself to the written word.

Aaron Douglas

Aaron Douglas

Known as the “Father of African American Arts,” Aaron Douglas was born in Topeka, Kansas, and developed an interest in drawing and painting at an early age.

Nora Douglas Holt

Nora Douglas Holt

Renowned composer, singer, pianist, and music critic Nora Holt broke the boundaries of what was expected of her race and sex.

William L. Fambrough

William L. Fambrough

For three decades, William Fambrough documented African American life in Kansas City through his photographs.

Langston Hughes

Langston Hughes

A leader of the Harlem Renaissance, James Mercer Langston Hughes was a writer and social activist who developed a new literary art form called jazz poetry.

Gordon Parks

Gordon Parks

The son of a farmer in Fort Scott, Kansas, Gordon Parks defied racism and his own impoverished beginnings to become one of the world’s great photographers, as well as an internationally recognized writer, composer, and filmmaker.

Cloteele T. Raspberry

Cloteele T. Raspberry

Born in Texas, Cloteele T. Raspberry moved to Kansas City at a young age and became a fashion designer and mentor to young women interested in the profession.

NEW!

portrait of woman

Lucille Jeanette Bacote

L.J. Bacote, born Lucille Jeanette Bledsoe in Huntingdon, Tennessee, was a musician, teacher, and choir director who spent over 50 years leading the senior choir at Second Baptist Church. Specializing in organ, piano, voice, and choral directing, she demanded musical excellence and spread her musical passion to generations of church goers and students.

Etta Moten Barnett

Etta Moten Barnett

An actress and singer closely identified with the role of Bess in the opera Porgy and Bess, Etta Moten Barnett was born in Texas and studied music and drama at Western University in Kansas City, Kansas.

Vincent O. Carter

Vincent O. Carter

A child of the Great Depression, Vincent O. Carter was thankful for the comfortable upbringing his parents provided and devoted himself to the written word.

Aaron Douglas

Aaron Douglas

Known as the “Father of African American Arts,” Aaron Douglas was born in Topeka, Kansas, and developed an interest in drawing and painting at an early age.

Nora Douglas Holt

Nora Douglas Holt

Renowned composer, singer, pianist, and music critic Nora Holt broke the boundaries of what was expected of her race and sex.

William L. Fambrough

William L. Fambrough

For three decades, William Fambrough documented African American life in Kansas City through his photographs.

Langston Hughes

Langston Hughes

A leader of the Harlem Renaissance, James Mercer Langston Hughes was a writer and social activist who developed a new literary art form called jazz poetry.

Gordon Parks

Gordon Parks

The son of a farmer in Fort Scott, Kansas, Gordon Parks defied racism and his own impoverished beginnings to become one of the world’s great photographers, as well as an internationally recognized writer, composer, and filmmaker.

Cloteele T. Raspberry

Cloteele T. Raspberry

Born in Texas, Cloteele T. Raspberry moved to Kansas City at a young age and became a fashion designer and mentor to young women interested in the profession.

Portrait of Henry Tanner

Henry Ossawa Tanner

Henry Ossawa Tanner is recognized as the first African American artist to gain international fame. During his career, he deftly combined the painting styles of predominantly white academic artists with those of the thriving Black artistic communities of Kansas City.

Melvin B. Tolson

Melvin B. Tolson

Melvin B. Tolson became the first Poet Laureate of the Republic of Liberia. Born in Moberly, Missouri, Tolson spent his junior and senior years at Kansas City’s Lincoln High School.

Annetta Washington

Annetta “Cotton Candy” Washington

A songwriter, musician, and poet, Annetta “Cotton Candy” Washington reigned almost four decades as the Queen of Kansas City Blues.

NEW!

portrait of woman

Lucille Jeanette Bacote

L.J. Bacote, born Lucille Jeanette Bledsoe in Huntingdon, Tennessee, was a musician, teacher, and choir director who spent over 50 years leading the senior choir at Second Baptist Church. Specializing in organ, piano, voice, and choral directing, she demanded musical excellence and spread her musical passion to generations of church goers and students.

Etta Moten Barnett

Etta Moten Barnett

An actress and singer closely identified with the role of Bess in the opera Porgy and Bess, Etta Moten Barnett was born in Texas and studied music and drama at Western University in Kansas City, Kansas.

Vincent O. Carter

Vincent O. Carter

A child of the Great Depression, Vincent O. Carter was thankful for the comfortable upbringing his parents provided and devoted himself to the written word.

Aaron Douglas

Aaron Douglas

Known as the “Father of African American Arts,” Aaron Douglas was born in Topeka, Kansas, and developed an interest in drawing and painting at an early age.

Nora Douglas Holt

Nora Douglas Holt

Renowned composer, singer, pianist, and music critic Nora Holt broke the boundaries of what was expected of her race and sex.

William L. Fambrough

William L. Fambrough

For three decades, William Fambrough documented African American life in Kansas City through his photographs.

Langston Hughes

Langston Hughes

A leader of the Harlem Renaissance, James Mercer Langston Hughes was a writer and social activist who developed a new literary art form called jazz poetry.

Gordon Parks

Gordon Parks

The son of a farmer in Fort Scott, Kansas, Gordon Parks defied racism and his own impoverished beginnings to become one of the world’s great photographers, as well as an internationally recognized writer, composer, and filmmaker.

Cloteele T. Raspberry

Cloteele T. Raspberry

Born in Texas, Cloteele T. Raspberry moved to Kansas City at a young age and became a fashion designer and mentor to young women interested in the profession.

Portrait of Henry Tanner

Henry Ossawa Tanner

Henry Ossawa Tanner is recognized as the first African American artist to gain international fame. During his career, he deftly combined the painting styles of predominantly white academic artists with those of the thriving Black artistic communities of Kansas City.

Melvin B. Tolson

Melvin B. Tolson

Melvin B. Tolson became the first Poet Laureate of the Republic of Liberia. Born in Moberly, Missouri, Tolson spent his junior and senior years at Kansas City’s Lincoln High School.

Annetta Washington

Annetta “Cotton Candy” Washington

A songwriter, musician, and poet, Annetta “Cotton Candy” Washington reigned almost four decades as the Queen of Kansas City Blues.