Elizabeth Catlett was born in 1915 in Washington D.C. to parents who were both educators and children of freed slaves. She faced discrimination as one of the few black students at Howard University and was denied admission to another school upon them discovering her race. Catlett's sculptures and lithographs focused on celebrating African American dignity and promoting civil rights. One of her most famous works is "Mother and Child" from 1935 which depicts a black mother and baby. Fellow artist Artis Lane was also born in the United States but her family later moved to Canada, where she developed her talent for portraiture before attending art school.

1. Sex ,Race and Civil Rights
by Reba Rossi

3. Elizabeth Catlett, Was born in April 1915 in Washington D.C. Both her mother
and her father were the children of freed slaves, and her grandmother told her
stories about the capture of blacks in Africa and the hardships of plantation
life. She was the youngest of three children. Both parents worked in education.
Catlett did her undergraduate studies at Howard University although it was not
her first choice. She was admitted into the Carnegie Institute of Technology
but she was refused admission when the school found out she was black. After
graduating Catlett taught adult education classes at the George Washington
Carver School in Harlem. She also studied lithography at the Art Students
League of New York and received private instruction from Russian sculptor
Ossip Zadkine.

4. Elizabeth Catlett, whose
abstracted sculptures of
the human form reflected
her deep concern with the
African-American
experience. the struggle
for civil rights and
women rights. Catlett
said that the purpose of
her art is to "present
black people in their
beauty and dignity for
ourselves and others to
understand and enjoy."

5. Mother and Child by Elizabeth Catlett
wood sculpture ,c.1935

7. ‘Glory’ by Elizabeth Catlett
Sculpture bronze c.1981

8. Lithograph by Elizabeth Catlett “colored only” c. 1946

9. “Civil Rights Congress”
Lithograph series c.1949 by
Elizabeth Catlett

10. Artis Lane was born in North
Buxton in southern Ontario,
Canada, on May 14, 1927.She can
traces her roots all the way back to
Southern slaves who escaped to
Canada via the underground
railroad. When she was two years
old, Lane’s family moved to Ann
Arbor, Michigan, where Lane
attended school and began to
distinguish herself as an artist. By
the age of fifteen, she was painting
portraits of her classmates, and
after graduating from high school,
she was awarded a scholarship to
the Ontario College of Art in
Toronto. After graduating,

15. "The Beginning",
silkscreen, 1993
by Artis Lane

16. • Wikipedia – unknown authors
• By Marlena Donohue July 2, 1990 -
Artis Lane The Universality of Sculpture
www.artnet.com/artists/artis-lane/biography
• www.britannica.com/biography/Elizabeth-Catlett
• elizabethcatlett.net