Jo-Ann Morgan

Jo-Ann Morgan is Professor Emeritus of African American Studies and Art History at Western Illinois University. She authored The Black Arts Movement and the Black Panther Party in American Visual Culture (Routledge, 2019) and Uncle Tom’s Cabin as Visual Culture, winner of the Seaborg Award for Civil War Scholarship in 2008. Prior to becoming a scholar of African American art and culture, Morgan graduated from the University of Wyoming in studio art (MFA 1988) and remained active as a visual artist while a doctoral student at UCLA (PhD 1997). After two decades of university teaching, in 2020 Morgan reestablished a full-time studio practice, creating stitched fabric compositions on themes related to social justice and gun violence.

Morgan received a Not Real Art Award from Culver City Arts Foundation (2022), a Cultural Commentary/Social Change Grant from Fiber Art Now (2021), and numerous honorable mentions from juried shows. Her solo shows include Dalton Gallery, Rock Hill, SC (2022), Park Circle Gallery, North Charleston, SC (2022), Maude Kerns Art Center, Eugene, OR (2023), Rehoboth Beach [DE] Art League (2023), Pittsburg [KA] State University (2023), Alma [MI] College (2023), Thelma Sadoff Center for the Arts, Fond du Lac, WI (2024), Holy Family University, Philadelphia, PA (2024); and Appalachian Center for Crafts, Smithfield, TN (2024).