Invested in a polyphony of media and creative networks, this chronological survey begins in the antebellum era and tracks artistic practices of African American artists through today. This course defines African American visual art broadly both in its disciplinarity and geography: students will consider visual artistic practices such as painting, sculpture, photography, performance, and collage as they intersect with other cultural spheres, including literature, theater, and music across the Americas. Each class meeting will focus on specific networks, cooperatives, or communities of visual art production (including but not limited to: Gee’s Bend Quilters, Spiral, Studio Z, Where We At, Kamoinge Workshop, Umbra, Black Arts Repertory Theater/School, Dark Room Collective, and Black Women Artists for Black Lives Matter) to establish a critical network of thinkers and creatives destabilizing the notion of the artist as a singular creative genius. The course will also elucidate a sociopolitical context that scaffolds the multivalent practices covered. Class topics and requisite readings will come from the field of art history as well as from critical race theory, cultural studies, and diasporic histories of the Americas; the course will include trips to area museums, galleries, and artist studios, as well as guest speakers and interlocutors.