The P.S. 321 Equity and Inclusion Committee
invites you to collaborate with us to create the
Black Lives Matter Quilt of Heroes
In celebration of
Martin Luther King, Jr. Day & Black History Month
Illustration by Shannon Anderson
Black history is American history. The civil rights movement exemplifies our ever-continuing struggle to achieve the most important of our founding ideals. The specific biographies of individual black Americans give proof of the resiliency, creativity and determination of our national character. These heroes we celebrate are some of the most valuable threads in our American tapestry and tightly bind our country’s connection to the world’s history of individual and human rights.
Let’s create a Black Lives Matter Quilt of Heroes together.
Each of our individual artwork will be combined into a school-wide virtual quilt that students will start during Black Lives Matter in Schools week, February 1-5, 2021. Submissions can be made through the winter break. We will share the virtual quilt as a culmination of Black History Month.
To learn more about the 13 Guiding Principles of the Movement for Black Lives and how to talk about them with kids, please click here.
Check out the BLM Quilt of Heroes Here!
It’s easy to participate:
- Choose to learn about a specific hero of black history, social justice, and/or the civil rights movement (some suggestions below)
- Create your own artwork illustrating and/or inspired by the accomplishments of your chosen hero.
- Upload a photo or scan of your image to https://ps321.org/pta-project-image-upload/ (Alternatively, you can send it to diversity-matters@ps321.org)
List of Heroes to Consider
ACADEMICS, JOURNALISTS & AUTHORS
| Maya Angelou | Henry Louis Gates Jr. | Van Jones |
| James Baldwin | Amanda Gorman | Audre Lorde |
| Daisy Bates | Nikki Giovanni | Toni Morrison |
| Benjamin Banneker | Vashti Harrison | Ntozake Shange |
| Gwendolyn Brooks | Bell Hooks | Mary Church Terrell |
| George Washington Carver | Langston Hughes | Vivien Thomas |
| Anna Julia Cooper | Zora Neale Hurston | Dorothy Vaughn |
| W.E.B. Du Bois | Mary Jackson | Alice Walker |
| Frederick Douglass | James Weldon Johnson | Booker T. Washington |
| John Hope Franklin | Katherine Johnson | Cornel West |
ACTORS, FILMMAKERS & PUBLIC FIGURES
| Halle Berry | Spike Lee | Sidney Poitier |
| Chadwick Boseman | Dick Gregory | Shonda Rhimes |
| Octavia Butler | Lorraine Hansberry | Chris Rock |
| Ryan Coogler | Cheryl Boone Isaacs | Cicely Tyson |
| Laverne Cox | Robert L. Johnson | Madame C.J. Walker |
| Ossie Davis | Michael B. Jordan | Oprah Winfrey |
| Ruby Dee | Jacob Lawrence | |
| Ava DuVernay | Lupita Nyong’o |
ARTISTS
| Jean-Michel Basquiat | Kadir Nelson | Amy Sherald |
| Romare Bearden | Gordon Parks | Kehinde Wiley |
| Simone Yvette Lee | Faith Ringgold | |
| Kerry James Marshall | Augusta Savage |
ATHLETES & DANCERS
| Henry “Hank” Aaron | Kareem Abdul Jabar | Jackie Robinson |
| Muhammad Ali | Lebron James | Bill Russell |
| Arthur Ashe | Judith Jamison | John Carlos & Tommie Smith |
| Barry Bonds | Magic Johnson | Sheryl Swoopes |
| Kobe Bryant | Marion Jones | Lawrence Taylor |
| Bessie Coleman | Lisa Leslie | Venus Williams |
| Misty Copeland | Jesse Owens | Serena Williams |
| Gabby Douglas | Pearl Primus | Tiger Woods |
CIVIL, POLITICAL & SPIRITUAL LEADERS
| Stacey Abrams | Patrice Cullors | Loretta Lynch |
| Ralph Abernathy | Marian Wright Edelman | Nelson Mandela |
| Amy Ashwood | James Farmer | Thurgood Marshall |
| Crispus Attucks | James Forman | Floyd McKissick |
| Ella Baker | Marcus Garvey | Pauli Murray |
| Mary McLeod Bethune | Kamala Harris | Diane Nash |
| James Bevel | Fannie Lou Hamer | E. D. Nixon |
| Elaine Brown | Dorothy Irene Height | Barack Obama |
| Ruby Bridges | Anita Hill | Michelle Obama |
| Stokely Carmichael | Reverend Jesse Jackson | Rosa Parks |
| Majora Carter | Vernon Johns | Adam Clayton Powell Jr. |
| Shirley Chisholm | Claudia Jones | A. Philip Randolph |
| Septima Clark | Flo Kennedy | Gloria Richardson |
| Yvette Clarke | John Lewis | JoAnn Robinson |
| Angela Davis | A Mildred Delores Loving | Josephine St. Pierre Ruffin |
| Bayard Rustin | Opal Tometi | Ida B. Wells-Barnett |
| Dred Scott | Sojourner Truth | Maya Wiley |
| Fred Shuttlesworth | Harriet Tubman | Honorable Harold Wood |
| Bryan Stevenson | Tuskegee Airmen | Malcolm X |
| Maria Stewart | Lauren Underwood |
MUSICIANS
| Will I Am | Barbara Smith Conrad | Alicia Keys |
| India Arie | Nat King Cole | John Legend |
| Louis Armstrong | Sean “Puff Daddy” Combs | Hugh Masekela |
| Josephine Baker | Miles Davis | Paul Robeson |
| Harry Belafonte | Ella Fitzgerald | Diana Ross |
| Chuck Berry | Aretha Franklin | Nina Simone |
| Beyoncé | Jimi Hendrix | Bessie Smith |
| Shawn “Jay-Z” Carter | Billie Holiday |
