Just recently having celebrated its fiftieth anniversary, the Black ABC’s is a unique project created by two educators in Chicago during the Black Power movement in 1970. This set of twenty six poster-sized study prints in the original vinyl carrying case features a beautifully vivid color photograph corresponding to the letter of the alphabet and educational keywords, biographies, and suggested activities on the reverse side. The images contain instances of Black joy in domestic settings across Chicago such as classrooms, family outings, playgrounds, and other recreational scenes. Children and adults alike are pictured smiling in empowering situations corresponding to alphabetical phrases such as ‘A is for Afro,’ ‘D is for Dream,’ and ‘V is for Vote.’ The prints also feature biographies of famous Black figures whose last names coincide with the letter such as Martin Luther King Jr. for K and Harriet Tubman for T. These posters serve to normalize the Black community in America and inspire confidence in children.

In 2020, these cards were the subject of an exhibition in Chicago at the Arts Incubator Gallery. Titled ‘S is for Soul Sister,’ the show celebrated fifty years of uplifting Black youth through positive representation in an academic environment as well as presenting new photographs of the children in the original images all grown up.

The Black ABC’s was created by two black female educators, June Sark Heinrich, and consultant Bernadette H. Triplett. Heinrich received her MA in English at the University of Chicago and was an author and editor of programs for early childhood education. Heinrich and Triplett teamed up to produce the Black ABCs in 1970 for the Society of Visual Education.