Tamara Natalie Madden, unknown title and date

Tamara Natalie Madden (1975 –2017) was a Jamaican-born mother, mixed-media artist, and professor of art and visual culture at Spelman College in Atlanta. On November 4, 2017, she died at her home in Snellville, Georgia, only two weeks after being diagnosed with Stage 4 ovarian cancer.  She was 42.

 “Out of Many, One People”

Though Tamara Natalie Madden was born in Kingston, Jamaica, she spent her teenage years in Madison, Wisconsin. Born with dark skin to a mother with light skin, Ms. Madden observed endemic racist behavior from people of color, both in Jamaica and in the United States – based solely on the degree of darkness of skin; thus began Ms. Madden’s desire to show other black children that they are beautiful through her art.

She said in an interview with Daniel Solomon, “At home, we never thought of color…