Arts, Creativity, Expression

Ancestral Legacy of Creative Power

1. Know that African civilizations are the cradle of art, music, and performance.
   
   

2. Understand the role of griots and oral historians in preserving truth.
   
   

3. Recognize African symbols, patterns, and motifs in global design.
   
   

4. Learn the significance of drum rhythms in communication and ceremony.
   
   

5. Honor the spiritual function of dance in African cultures.
   
   

6. Study how enslaved Africans used songs to communicate, resist, and survive.
   
   

7. See quilting, braiding, and pottery as sacred forms of storytelling.
   
   

8. Explore how instruments like the banjo originated in Africa.
   
   

9. Understand African cosmology and its creative expression in sacred art.
   
   

10. Learn the role of improvisation as a cultural survival skill.
    
    

Breaking the Chains of Creative Suppression

11. Identify how European colonialism suppressed African art and expression.
    
    

12. Deconstruct the idea that European art is the “standard.”
    
    

13. See how Black creativity was labeled “primitive” or “unrefined.”
    
    

14. Unlearn internalized shame about bold color, rhythm, and expression.
    
    

15. Challenge systems that exclude Black creators from galleries and institutions.
    
    

16. Reject exploitation and theft of Black art in fashion, media, and music.
    
    

17. Learn the power of reclaiming and renaming your creative work.
    
    

18. Recognize how slavery turned creativity into unpaid labor.
    
    

19. Understand the difference between performing for survival vs. for soul expression.
    
    

20. Free yourself from respectability politics in creative spaces.
    
    

Resistance Through Creative Expression

21. Study how the Harlem Renaissance sparked cultural pride.
    
    

22. Know that every artistic form can be a tool of protest.
    
    

23. Embrace hip hop’s origins as urban resistance and truth-telling.
    
    

24. Analyze how Nina Simone, Bob Marley, and others used music for liberation.
    
    

25. Understand visual art as a weapon for revolution (e.g. Emory Douglas).
    
    

26. Reclaim “Black style” as an intellectual and cultural contribution.
    
    

27. Use poetry and spoken word to speak truth to power.
    
    

28. Build art collectives for community healing and visibility.
    
    

29. Make murals that reflect Black presence, history, and vision.
    
    

30. Know that joy, beauty, and pleasure are also acts of resistance.
    
    

Arts as Healing & Reclamation

31. Engage in creative expression to process trauma.
    
    

32. Use journaling, collage, and drawing as emotional release.
    
    

33. Explore music therapy and rhythm-based healing.
    
    

34. Understand art as a form of spiritual protection.
    
    

35. Reconnect to ancestral practices through ritual art.
    
    

36. Learn how creative expression regulates the nervous system.
    
    

37. Practice body-based art (dance, movement) for healing.
    
    

38. Make altar art to honor ancestors.
    
    

39. Reclaim womb art, erotic art, and sensual creativity with pride.
    
    

40. Create sacred creative spaces for Black wellness and joy.
    
    

Cultural Mastery of Diverse Artistic Forms

41. Learn African textiles and their meanings (kente, mud cloth, etc).
    
    

42. Master an African instrument or vocal tradition.
    
    

43. Explore culinary arts as cultural expression.
    
    

44. Practice traditional and modern Black dance forms.
    
    

45. Study Black architecture and design philosophies.
    
    

46. Learn digital art to amplify cultural voices.
    
    

47. Make wearable art that tells your family’s story.
    
    

48. Write fiction, folktales, and children’s books centered in Black joy.
    
    

49. Study visual storytelling through photography and film.
    
    

50. Paint portraits of Black beauty, resilience, and futures.
    
    

Unleashing Innovation & Invention

51. Know that artistic brilliance includes invention and science.
    
    

52. Study African inventors, engineers, and mathematicians.
    
    

53. Explore STEAM (Science, Tech, Engineering, Art, Math) with a decolonized lens.
    
    

54. Use art to visualize Afrofuturism and new realities.
    
    

55. Reimagine education through interactive art.
    
    

56. Build models, games, and comics rooted in African cosmology.
    
    

57. Integrate agricultural design with sculpture or spatial storytelling.
    
    

58. Design Black-centered apps, animations, and VR.
    
    

59. Learn coding as a new creative language.
    
    

60. Create art that challenges artificial intelligence bias.
    
    

Economic Liberation through Creativity

61. Understand how your art has value — spiritually and economically.
    
    

62. Learn how to price, copyright, and sell your creative work.
    
    

63. Join co-ops and collectives that support Black artists.
    
    

64. Study African diasporic business models in creative economies.
    
    

65. Use crowdfunding to fund creative and cultural projects.
    
    

66. Support and buy from Black creators.
    
    

67. Develop branding that honors cultural authenticity.
    
    

68. Learn about creative entrepreneurship.
    
    

69. Be wary of exploitation in publishing, music, and film industries.
    
    

70. Know that thriving off your art is a form of reparations.
    
    

Global Connection Through the Arts

71. Learn African art forms by region and tribe (e.g. Yoruba, Zulu, Dagara).
    
    

72. Connect with diasporic traditions in Brazil, Haiti, Jamaica, Cuba, etc.
    
    

73. Study African arts in Latin American and Indigenous cultures.
    
    

74. Explore Pan-African themes through theatre and dance.
    
    

75. Collaborate globally with other Black creatives.
    
    

76. Host or join international cultural exchanges.
    
    

77. Learn songs in African languages and dialects.
    
    

78. Make maps and visuals showing global Black creativity.
    
    

79. Celebrate Black art festivals and conferences worldwide.
    
    

80. Build bridges, not borders, through your creative work.
    
    

Creativity as a Lifelong Tool for Growth

81. Create every week—even if no one sees it.
    
    

82. Teach children that they are born creators.
    
    

83. Never compare your art to others—value uniqueness.
    
    

84. Revisit childhood creativity to reconnect to innocence.
    
    

85. Make art part of spiritual practice (journals, altars, prayer cloths).
    
    

86. Use creative projects to deepen family connection.
    
    

87. Document your dreams, visions, and emotions through art.
    
    

88. Design your own rites of passage with art and ritual.
    
    

89. Keep a visual journal of your liberation journey.
    
    

90. Know that creativity keeps your inner fire alive.
    
    

Arts for Generational and Collective Liberation

91. Teach youth to create not just copy.
    
    

92. Archive community stories through film, books, murals.
    
    

93. Celebrate elder artists and culture-keepers.
    
    

94. Start art-based healing circles for grief and justice.
    
    

95. Build youth art programs centered on cultural knowledge.
    
    

96. Turn abandoned spaces into cultural sanctuaries.
    
    

97. Make collaborative art that reflects community dreams.
    
    

98. Pass down skills, tools, and techniques across generations.
    
    

99. Use creativity to envision post-plantation futures.
    
    

100. Remember: art is the language of freedom.