Celebrate Black History Month with NEA Lifetime Honorees!

The National Endowment for the Arts has a proud history of investing in artists at the start of their careers. We are equally invested in celebrating artists who have immeasurably contributed to their fields over a lifetime of work as practitioners, mentors, and advocates. In honor of Black History Month, here are some of the Black jazz, folk and traditional, literary, and opera artists who have shown us, by their example, how to live a meaningful life in the arts.