19 A Focus on Faith Ringgold’s Painting “God Bless America” in An Art Appreciation Course (2025)

One of my favorite assignments from my ART&100 Art Appreciation class is centered around Faith Ringgold’s painting “God Bless America.” The assignment is below:

View the image below and give your initial thoughts and feelings about the piece:

God Bless America  Faith Ringgold

Next, watch this short video about the artist, Faith Ringgold.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i7aZrHyQWyM

Knowing what you do about the artist, take a few moments to view it again. Write a second statement under your first, initial reaction, talking about what you see, how you feel, and what you think of the painting with her context and perspective. Has anything changed? Why or why not?

Bringing the student to the intent of the artist can be important, but also needs to highlight and open for their interpretation. Faith Ringgold states in the video above that the viewer’s interpretation is just as important as the context of the piece. This is what brings us together.

We also talk about the Wall of Respect in Chicago and how it led to the AfriCOBRA movement. This link provides a decent overview of some of the artwork/artists in that movement: https://www.swanngalleries.com/news/african-american-art/2020/04/africobra/.

This movement began around the Civil Rights Movement, and has had a renewed interest in recent years, inspiring many artists today.

Lastly, I have a lot of different links to current artists, like this link to introducing you to LGBTQ+ artists from art history: https://www.tate.org.uk/visit/tate-britain/lgbtq-icons-tate-britain