Jerlyn Thomas

Blacks in Portraits Volume 2 Jerlyn Thomas

This second volume of Blacks in Portraits was always part of the plan, and here it is. There were so many questions behind this one. Will it be as successful as the first? What are the reader's expectations? Is this book meeting the goals that I had with the first?




My intention, still, is to inspire you to learn something about these fantastic figures. This time, I collaborated with my friend Delvin Kariuki to utilize fabulous fabrics from collections listed on her website Kwamboka.com. I posted them on my feed on Instagram (@commuteartist) in animated form, adding Black musicians and bands. It was a month-long celebration of how Americans of African descent influenced our country. I'm so proud of this project! I'm literally in tears because this journey has been such a long one. It is 2021, most of us are familiar with last year's death of George Floyd, this year's adopting of Juneteenth as a federal holiday, and the unearthing of the history of the Tulsa Massacre. My intention was never to make these volumes political, but to continue the work of Carter G. Woodson (page 34). More and more, we are realizing that reviving history and teaching it accurately is essential to our progress.




I want to know what you think about this volume, so please send me your suggestions and critiques.




To make this particular volume possible, I asked for suggestions from my Facebook feed. I want to thank everyone in no specific order: Anthony Carter, Ron Goldberg, Rochelle Dangleben, Stalina Gibson, Caitlin Jones, Sarah Logan, Amonia Paule Rolle, Mandy Massicott, Marlon Jean-Giles, Makedo Okolo, Valerie Baker Donaghy, Elaine René-Buncome, Tyler Berridge-Blanc, Gardenia Willoughby.