Born in 1911, Romare Bearden was a political cartoonist, Negro League baseball player, songwriter, editor and writer, but what he's most known for are his collages and paintings. August Wilson said of Bearden, who inspired his play, The Piano Lesson: "What I saw was black life, presented on its own terms, on a grand and epic scale, with all its richness and fullness, in a language that was vibrant and which, made attendant to everyday life, ennobled it, affirmed its value, and exalted its presence… It defined not only the character of black American life, but also its conscience."

Bearden died in 1988.