Faith Ringgold (born October 8, 1930 in Harlem, New York City) is an American painter, writer, mixed media sculptor, and performance artist, best known for her narrative quilts set in the context of African American culture and history. Her “story quilts,” politically charged paintings, and more hang in the Studio Museum in Harlem, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Guggenheim Museum, the Museum of Modern Art, and other major museums around the world, as well as in the private collections of Maya Angelou, Bill Cosby, and Oprah Winfrey. Her children’s books, including the Caldecott Honor Book Tar Beach, have sold hundreds of thousands of copies. But Ringgold’s path to success has not been easy. 

While working as an art teacher in public schools, Faith Ringgold began a series of paintings called American People, which portrayed the civil rights movement from a female perspective. In the 1970s, she created African-style masks, painted political posters, and actively sought the racial integration of the New York art world. During the 1980s, she began a series of quilts that are among her best-known works, and she later embarked on a successful career as a children’s book author and illustrator. [Source: Wikipedia and Biography.com]

This is the eighth post in a series of Charlotte Mason picture study resources featuring Black artists. I chose to highlight Ringgold this time because she’s a living artist that my children already have a relationship with. Her work is incredibly unique, and she doesn’t allow anyone else to dictate what is and isn’t worthy of being integrated into her art. I admire her commitment to activism and the way that she’s always continued to show up, despite the intense racism and sexism she has experienced across her career. And as was the case with Augusta Savage, I’m intentionally seeking to bathe my children in the work and lives of Black women.

“When I was in elementary school I used to see reproductions of Horace Pippin’s 1942 painting called John Brown Going to His Hanging in my textbooks. I didn’t know Pippin was a black person. No one ever told me that. I was much, much older before I found out that there was at least one black artist in my history books. Only one. Now that didn’t help me. That wasn’t good enough for me. How come I didn’t have that source of power? It is important. That’s why I am a black artist. It is exactly why I say who I am.”

-Faith Ringgold

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Picture Books

One of the best parts about studying Ringgold is the ability to integrate so many wonderful children’s books as we learn about her art. You can prepare for your Faith Ringgold picture study by reading these books ahead of time, or you can just sprinkle them in casually throughout the term. These are the books that we’ve read so far (along with her Henry Ossawa Tanner book):

Biographical Resources

• The Met Faith Ringgold: Narrating the World in Pattern and Color by Sharna Jackson – “Step into Ringgold’s life and learn what led her to mix different media and craft powerful stories into quilts. Travel with her from Harlem, New York, to Europe, Ghana, and Nigeria. Pick a cause that you care about and try combining it with fabric or sculpture to make your own artworks!” — This vibrant picture book is my top recommendation for reading aloud to elementary children or for whole family mixed-age learning.
• Faith Ringgold by Robin Montana Turner – “This is the story of a remarkable woman whose determination to be true to her African American heritage brought about an influential new art form.” — I recommend this text-dense picture book for middle school and up. It’s good for reading aloud or for them to read on their own. You can’t look inside on Amazon, so here’s a sample of the text.
• Faith Ringgold by Mark Venezia – “Getting to Know the World’s Greatest Artists series combines a delightful mix of full-color historical reproductions, photos, and hilarious cartoon-style illustrations that bring to life the works of renowned artists, combining poignant anecdotes with important factual information for readers.” — This is a fun book that elementary students would enjoy reading to themselves.
• We Flew over the Bridge: The Memoirs of Faith Ringgold by – “In this gorgeously illustrated memoir, she looks back and shares the story of her struggles, growth, and triumphs. Ringgold recollects how she had to surmount a wall of prejudices as she worked to refine her artistic vision and raise a family. At the same time, the story she tells is one of warm family memories and sustaining friendships, community involvement, and hope for the future.” — I have this book but haven’t read it yet. I definitely recommend it for adults, but I think it would be a great read for teens as well.

Relevant Videos*

Faith Ringgold reading her book, Tar Beach – This is an example of why I love mixing contemporary artists in with the older Black masters. Being able to see and hear the artist reading her own work is a treat.

Getting to Know Faith Ringgold (21:11) – This is a long but wonderfully entertaining video featuring an animated Ringgold telling about her life and her art. Highly recommend! It pairs well with the next video where the kids can meet the real-life Ringgold.

Faith Ringgold on CBS Sunday Morning (5:41 min) – I love this interview because we get to hear Ringgold’s story told in her own words, and we can get a good sense of her personality.

Faith Ringgold: Artist & Activist (3:30 min) – I enjoyed learning more about her experiences and activism. WARNING: Nude art is shown at 3:19 in the video. Please preview!

Songs of Faith: Faith Ringgolds Playlist – This is something adults will appreciate most. Preview lyrics ahead of time for kids. Most of the songs are fine, but the first one (Strange Fruit), is about lynching, for example.

“After I decided to be an artist, the first thing that I had to believe was that I, a Black woman, could be on the art scene without sacrificing one iota of my blackness, or my femaleness, or my humanity.”

Faith Ringgold

Faith Ringgold Picture Study Artist Prints

• I couldn’t find an existing set of prints featuring Faith Ringgold’s work, so my family is using the prints in this Faith Ringgold calendar. They’re pretty perfect, and the lesson plans below use pictures found in the calendar. Recommendation: Purchase the calendar now, even if you won’t be studying her until later, because it’s a 2022 calendar. UPDATE: The 2022 calendar is sold out, but this 2023 calendar is also a great option. The images won’t match up with what I’ve prepared below, but a quick search of the images you want to use will pull up the info you need.
• If you prefer (or if the calendar is no longer available), you can print images for your family from Wikiart Visual Art Encyclopedia: Faith Ringgold

Faith Ringgold Picture Study Lesson Plans 

These plans are based on the calendar linked above (Select your preferred bio):

• Week 1: Read bio – The Met Faith Ringgold by Sharna Jackson (pp. 1-18) or Faith Ringgold by Turner (pp. 5-12) or Faith Ringgold by Venezia (pp. 3-12)
• Week 2: Read bio –  The Met Faith Ringgold by Sharna Jackson (pp. 19-37) or Faith Ringgold by Turner (pp. 13-21) or Faith Ringgold by Venezia (pp. 13-22)
• Week 3: Read bio –  The Met Faith Ringgold by Sharna Jackson (pp. 38-56) or Faith Ringgold by Turner (pp. 22-32) or Faith Ringgold by Venezia (pp. 23-32)
• Week 4: Who’s Afraid of Aunt Jemima? (1983) – Background info, Easy to read words from quilt, History of Aunt Jemima
• Week 5: Double Dutch on the Golden Gate Bridge (1988) – Background info
• Week 6: Maya’s Quilt of Life (1989) – Background info, Easy to read words from quilt,
• Week 7: Tar Beach (1990) – Background info, Pair this picture with video above of Ringgold reading the book
• Week 8: Working Women (1996) – A little bit of background of its use as a poster for the U.S. Dept of Labor
• Week 9: Sunflower Quilting Bee at Arles (1997) – Background info, Vincent Van Gogh Sunflowers
• Week 10: Jazz Stories: Mama Can Sing, Papa Can Blow #1: Somebody Stole My Broken Heart (2004) – Background info (scroll down towards bottom of article)
• Week 11: Coming to Jones Road Part II #7: Our Secret Wedding in the Woods (2010) – Background info (scroll to the paragraph following this quote: “I wanted to create sculptures. With my mother’s help, I created soft sculptures using fabrics and mixed media”)
• Week 12: Exams

Additional notes

I like to immerse myself in the life and art of the artists whose pictures we study. Many of the relevant Faith Ringgold picture study resources collected here aren’t part of the “official” lesson plans, and I don’t always share everything with my children. Some things are for me; they’re part of my self-education as I learn alongside them. I’m sharing everything here in case you’d also like to go more in-depth, but please feel free to skip the “extras” as they’re not a necessary component of picture study.