Born in Harlem, Ringgold is a painter, mixed media artist, and artist. She is most notable known for her influential narrative quilts exploring various social issues. Ringgold created her first political art through her paintings in The American People Series from 1963 to 1967. In the 1960’s and 1970’s Ringgold travelled to Ghana and Nigeria to learn more about cultural African art as this was one of the biggest influences on her work. Ringgold’s first quilt piece was made in collaboration with her mother, Echoes of Harlem in 1980. Her body of work began to include greater amounts of unique quilts with the additional creations of narrative quilts. Ringgold’s first narrative quilt, Who’s Afraid of Aunt Jemima (1983), was made with acrylic paint and 56 square panels containing a pattern of painted subjects and written text. These narrative quilts are one of the greatest examples of the unique conduit Ringgold used to stimulate social change and bring awareness to social issues.

Work Below, Respectively: Tar Beach (Part I from the Woman on a Bridge Series| Echoes of Harlem, 1980| Slave Rape Quilt, 1985| Flag Story Quilt, 1985