MICHEL MARTIN, HOST:
Today, we remember artist Faith Ringgold. She was best known for her story quilts about Black life. She died over the weekend at the age of 93. NPR's Andrew Limbong has this appreciation.
ANDREW LIMBONG, BYLINE: When Faith Ringgold was growing up, she noticed something about the face of a certain pancake brand.
FAITH RINGGOLD: You know the Aunt Jemima pancake box? If you look at the early ones, when I was a kid, she was much darker. Her nose was wider, her lips were fuller and she was fatter.
LIMBONG: That is Ringgold talking to WHYY's Fresh Air in 1991 about her story quilt "Who's Afraid of Aunt Jemima."
RINGGOLD: And so I wanted to pay tribute to all of these Aunt Jemima's that we have in all of our families, these strong and very powerful women who sometimes don't pay attention to their weight because they're so busy nurturing and feeding the whole family.
LIMBONG: The result is a quilt with panels of Black women next to kids, teens, adults - white, Black. Ringgold was working in a medium with deep ties to African American slavery. But it wasn't her original medium. She wanted to paint landscapes. She told NPR in 2013 about trying to get those landscapes shown at a big time New York gallery. This was during the Civil Rights era, and gallery owner Ruth White turned her down.
RINGGOLD: And she says to me, you can't do that. You're a Black woman and you're painting landscapes? This is the middle of the '60s. All hell is breaking loose all over the country.
LIMBONG: In 1963, Ringgold began a series of paintings called "The American People." They're haunting, at times violent depictions of America.
RINGGOLD: The flag is bleeding with blood dripping. It was what was going on in America, and I wanted them to look at these paintings and see themselves.
LIMBONG: Faith Ringgold was born in 1930, in Harlem. She had asthma and spent a lot of time at home making art as a kid. She learned to quilt from her family. Adrian Childs is an art historian and curator. She says Faith Ringgold influenced a generation of artists.
ADRIENNE CHILDS: Faith Ringgold opened the door for younger artists, for artists after her, Black artists in particular, to carry their message through these alternative kinds of media.
LIMBONG: As Ringgold got older, her imagery softened. She eventually began writing and illustrating children's books. Childs says she had a favorite to read to her own kids when they were young.
CHILDS: And it was called "Tar Beach."
RINGGOLD: (Reading) I will always remember when the stars fell down around me and lifted me up above the George Washington Bridge.
LIMBONG: This is Ringgold reading from "Tar Beach" for NPR in 2016. Based on one of her own story quilts, "Tar Beach" tells the story of a young girl lying on an apartment rooftop while her parents and their friends have a picnic, imagining herself flying above the city.
RINGGOLD: Me, Cassie Louise Lightfoot, only 8 years old and in the third grade and I can fly.
LIMBONG: At the end of "Tar Beach," the girl tells her little brother that anyone can fly. All you need is somewhere to go you can't get to any other way.
Andrew Limbong, NPR News.
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