Art teacher celebrates Black History Month with stunning portraits of Black role models
Thanks to decades of community activism, more educators than ever before are making space for Black history in their school curriculum. This Black History Month, Khadesia Latimer, an elementary school art teacher in South Carolina, took a creative approach to celebrating Black leaders in American history. Honing her artistic talents with colored pencils and markers, Latimer created hand-drawn portraits of Black American pioneers to add to her school bulletin board. Her drawings, which she shared on TikTok earlier this month, have since gone viral, inspiring teachers nationwide to replicate her designs.
“I was originally inspired by Kaitlyn Edington many years ago when she did a bulletin board of portraits of Black artists!” Latimer, who goes by @thebusybrushes on TikTok and Instagram, tells Motherly. The board, which she hangs in the hallway outside of her classroom, features hand-drawn portraits of major Black historical figures. Beside each portrait, Latimer includes the person’s name and a short blurb about their achievements.
“The first time I did it, I was intentional about adding Amanda Gorman because that was a little after the time that she had read her poem, and it was really inspirational to me,” she says. In addition to poet and activist Amanda Gorman, Latimer’s first Black History Month bulletin board featured engineer and former NASA astronaut Mae Jemison and mathematician and aerospace technologist Katherine Johnson. “I kind of wanted to keep it in the realm of education and literacy and science,” she says.
This year, Latimer has also added a striking likeness of filmmaker and producer Ryan Coogler. Her latest portrait sits alongside previous drawings of notable figures like Bessie Coleman—the first African American and Native American woman to hold a pilot’s license—legendary NBA All-Star Kobe Bryant, and Arthur Ashe, the only Black tennis player to win the men’s singles title at Wimbledon to date.
With so many Black heroes still to add, Latimer hopes her bulletin board designs will inspire educators nationwide to celebrate the accomplishments of Black Americans well beyond February.
Celebrating Black brilliance—past and present
Latimer’s Black History Month bulletin boards have become a celebrated tradition at her schools. “It’s definitely a conversation starter,” she says. “[The students] will either ask, ‘Who is that?’ or ‘What do they do?’”
Latimer uses these questions as an opportunity to start a conversation about the historical figures in her artwork. She also makes an effort to tie the person’s story into her art class curriculum whenever possible. “I have Alma Thomas on my bulletin board right now, and we’re actually doing a lesson on Alma Thomas in my third-grade classes,” she says.
As excited as her students are each time she shares a new drawing, Latimer adds that they aren’t afraid to critique her artwork. “They’re also pretty critical too because [they’ll say], ‘Oh, that doesn’t look like so and so! You should have done this, or you should have done that,’ which is funny,” she says, adding that she’s redrawn a few portraits based on her students’ feedback.
The heroes on Latimer’s Black History Month bulletin board intentionally span a wide range of professions. “I just wanted to be intentional about hitting multiple realms: the arts, sports, science and STEM, poetry; things like that, so they can kind of get [an idea] of what Black History looks like and the areas that we’re hitting with these amazing pioneers,” she says.
In the same vein, Latimer purposefully features Black leaders from various periods in history on her bulletin boards, including the present day. “By incorporating Black History figures that are still alive, I hope they learn that Black History is still alive and active—not a thing of history,” Latimer says.
Bringing her artwork to life
Latimer knows the impact her bulletin boards have on her students. Her design process begins by projecting a photo of her subject on the classroom board. Using brown bulletin board paper and a white colored pencil, Latimer lightly sketches out the figure’s most prominent features. “I try to sketch it out as fast as I can because I only have 45 minutes for my planning period,” she says. Next, Latimer uses a black Sharpie to outline her design, adding detail and definition to her portraits.
“Black history is American history, and we should celebrate the accomplishments of Black people year-round—February should be the icing on the cake.”
Once the outline is set, Latimer uses Crayola’s Colors of the World color pencils to create subtle highlights and shadows. She also uses Qwik Stik markers to add color to each figure’s clothing. Next, all that’s left to do is cut out the design and laminate it.
The finished product is typically a two-and-a-half-foot portrait that wows Latimer’s students and inspires her fellow teachers. “Many art teachers from my TikTok and Instagram have shared photos in my comments of historical figures they’ve drawn and displayed as well!” Latimer says.
As far as displaying the portraits, the layout changes from year to year. “This year, I don’t have them on the bulletin board because I have too many,” Latimer says. Instead, she hangs her drawings around her classroom and uses the bulletin board to display a blurb about each Black pioneer alongside their names. “I also have a slideshow that I show with pictures of what they look like,” she says. This way, her students can exercise their curiosity and learn more about the figures in Latimer’s artwork.
Honoring Black history in February and beyond
At the core of Latimer’s Black History Month bulletin board is a profound message: Black history is American history.
“Black History is still active,” she says. “It’s something that’s ongoing . . . It’s not just something that we celebrate in the month of February, but these are people that we could be talking about all year long.” For this reason, Latimer plans to leave the bulletin board up well beyond February. She hopes that keeping these figures top of mind will encourage her students to be inquisitive and continue learning about leaders in the Black community.
“Black people have made astonishing contributions since the beginning of our time here in America,” Latimer says. “Black history is American history, and we should celebrate the accomplishments of Black people year-round—February should be the icing on the cake.”
source https://www.mother.ly/news/viral-trending/black-history-month-bulletin-board-art/
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