Short Essay
The autobiographical story helps illustrate what we have spoken in class about Black Americans are being undervalued and unequalized in the United States. The author Kimberly Drew attended art history class at Smith College. She began to realize there were barley opportunities to learn about Black artists. Kimberly explains that Black artists are not being valued or recognized for their talents and movements. This is one of the reasons why Kimberly became an activist because she wanted to change the world point of view against Black people. Kimberly started to do her own research and learned more about Black artists. There was a new world that Kimberly didn't know about Black people. This is what motivated her to learn more about Black world. She wanted to show the world that there are Black artists.
The moment that was meaningful to me was when Kimberly decided to change her major to art history. Even though she shares her own story she never imagined herself to become an artist and activist. She was able to prove that she can change the world stigma to stop portraying only light skin artists. Kimberly had the confidence to create her own blog and tumblr where she can share her audience about Black artists. She wanted to show the world that Black artists exist. The quote that stood out to me the most was on page 23 from the book “This is What I Know About Art'' by Kimberly Drew it states that, “If a race has no history, it has no worthwhile tradition, it becomes a negligible factor in the thought of the world, and it stands in danger of being exterminated.” This quote is related to what Kimberly was trying to say to stop Black race from being pushed away and not be taught in art class or presented in an art museum. She felt Black people artistry are not being known and are purposely erased from being part of history. This caused her to build black history online to let black people know like her that there are artists who are like them. We shouldn’t forget them and share them with the world in order for Black artists to be known again. Kimberly proved that if we share to the public we should bring black artists back into our history.
While reading the book there was a moment Kimberly felt offended from a artist named Adolph Gottlieb his paintings show reminiscent of African masks. She thought the artist was Black ,but in reality was a white artist. This surprise me how African Americans are being represented their culture and appearance by white artists. Why didn’t the museum use Black artists' paintings to represent themselves? In order to show the black community that they can express themselves through paintings.
Another situation that Kimberly encountered in her art class that shocked me the most is when she was learning in class about Cuban American artist Coco Fusco and artist Guillermo Gomez Pena who did a performance art piece about white people see people of color as savages, native, and foreign people. On page 27 Kimberly shares her opinion stating that, “I, on the other hand, felt solidarity with the artists’ need to highlight the shameful history of the world’s fair and how, more often than not, people of color are brought into art spaces to perform for white audiences.” This connects to her becoming an activist where she agrees about artists' representation to prove how white people disrespected and discriminated against people of color throughout history. These artists are proving their point about changing the perspective of people of color. What struck me out the most is when the professor said on page 27 to 28, “if I were an African American, I would see white guilt as equally offensive as outright racism”. Kimberly was confused like why do you have to be African American to speak against racism. In my opinion the professor was dividing the classroom by race. You do not have to be African American to be against racism. All people should stand up against racism this is not applies to one race to do something about issue.
Kimberly proved that art does matter because it shows your emotions. Emotions show people the artist's own perspective on how they see life. We should embrace all artists including people of color especially towards Black artists. Our voice is powerful and can be spread a message throughout the world. Kimberly wrote in her book that she was once afraid to liberate her feelings to her audience online. This was part of her career and her art impacted a huge meaning to the community. She also participated in the Black Lives Matter movement which gathered her audience to come work together and speak up about this racial problem.
Activism can be applied to my professional journey because since I am becoming a teacher I want to make sure my students understand diversity. I want to prove to my students that there are people like them who proved their potential to the world. My students can see that they can achieve their dreams and goals despite their race. Race should be accepted and shared within my class. This can help my students to apply it into the real world. They are able to do their own research about their nationality and race who have achieved their dreams. This can help my student to not feel fear or alone about achieving their goals. Kimberly’s story proved that the US had a stigma of not teaching other races of different color skin in artistry. She proved that black artists and activists had a huge change impact into the world such as equality and Black Lives Matter.
This story helps me to understand Kimberly's perspective about teaching students about different races including sharing Black American’s work. This can help my students to embrace themselves and show they are able to share their own opinions into the world. They can help to speak up within their race and stand up for their beliefs. Becoming a high school math teacher I am able to show diversity to engineers, economists, astronomers, physicists, and mathematicians that achieve their dreams and change the world. Students can share with their own person that they are inspired and admired in the class. This can help my students to boost their confidence about themselves. Even if my students' future careers do not apply to math they can still see their own race accomplishments are being shown to the world.
Work cited
Drew, K. (2020). This Is What I Know About Art. Penguin USA.
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| Jessica Spence Sore Arms, 2017 Kimberly Drew's blog on Tumblr |
This represents the beauty of Black hairstyles that should be embraced in the world.
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