bio

---

Rita Dickerson is a  native Detroit visual artist/historian who specializes in portraying Black culture, history, aspirations and beauty.  In exploring those topics, she creates two and three dimensional  works in either - clay, paint, pastels,  textiles, or printmaking. She has created a YouTube channel titled "Rita Dickerson Detroit Black History" which delves into the dynamic, prosperous Black community that lived in and around Detroit's cultural center between 1920 and 1975.  A few of her artworks that relate to each video are included.

Dickerson is a graduate of Detroit Public Schools.  She has earned  degrees from Wayne State University in Art Education and Fine Arts; and  has studied guidance and counseling at the University of Detroit Mercy.  She has taken additional art courses at the College for Creative Studies, Wayne County Community College, Oakland County Community College, the Birmingham Bloomfield Art Center, the Grosse Pointe Art Center, and the Visual Arts Association of Livonia.  Dickerson has also taken supplemental courses in African and African-American History.

She has exhibited in the Detroit Institute of Arts and in several galleries.  Her artwork has been featured in the New York Times, Huffpost, The Detroit Free Press, The Detroit News, The Michigan Chronicle  and in many other publications.  She has been interviewed on PBS NewsHour, Fox2 Detroit, and her work shown on WDIV-TV in Detroit.  

Rita has done an internship in the Detroit Institute of Arts Conservation Lab and helped to examine and classify some of the DIA's handmade lace.  She also did an internship in the Detroit Historical Museum during which she worked on the Museum's historical Sleepwear exhibition.  In addition, Dickerson has worked as a substitute art teacher in the Detroit Public Schools System.  She has also worked  for several  City Of Detroit Departments.

One of Ms. Dickerson's passions, aside from art and history, is philanthropy.  For 17 years she has funded scholarships to Wayne State University (WSU) students in the Department of African-American Studies.  She also funds internships for Detroit Public Schools and WSU students at the Charles Wright Museum of African-American History.