This lecture is a survey of typography in African American magazines, and media including popular television shows and music that have created an accepted and expected "black" type combined with a look at early African American newspapers and how African American book artists navigate expectations to give their text an "authentic" look.

Tia Blassingame is a book artist and printmaker exploring the intersection of race, history, and perception.  Utilizing printmaking and book arts techniques, she renders racially-charged images and histories for a nuanced discussion on issues of race and racism.  Blassingame holds a B.A. from Princeton University, M.A. from Corcoran College of Art Design, and an M.F.A. in Printmaking from Rhode Island School of Design.  She has been an artist-in-residence at Yaddo, MacDowell Colony, and the International Printmaking Center New York (IPCNY).  Her artists' books and prints can be found in library and museum collections around the world including Stanford University, Library of Congress, the  Metropolitan Museum of Art, and the Tate Britain, Blassingame is an Assistant Professor of Art at Scripps College, where she teaches Book Arts, and is the Director of Scripps College Press.