As the Harlem Renaissance roared, Louise E. Jefferson sat at her desk drawing. Using bright colors, symbolism, and lifelike imagery, Jefferson created a beautiful map of the real America.
Colonial maps historically stereotyped Black and Indigenous people and lands as primitive, like referring to Africa as “the Dark Continent.” Jefferson was determined to show where Black and Indigenous people lived. Maps like “Americans of Negro Lineage” included landmarks, historical facts, and vignettes of prominent Black people in politics, music, and literature. They also traced the intergenerational geographic migrations of our people. Jefferson’s process is known as “counter-mapping.”
Coined by sociologist Nancy Peluso, counter-mapping is the practice of using geography to reimagine history in ways that make marginalized peoples visible. Jefferson’s maps served as a form of visual literacy, bringing life and narrative to all marginalized people she portrayed. Black counter-mapping continued to be a form of resistance used by the Black Panther Party.
If you were to be a figure on one of Jefferson’s maps, what mark would you want to be remembered for?
Jefferson’s maps did more than reclaim Blackness; they geographically charted Black liberationist efforts. She reminded us that Black liberation is possible wherever Black people reside. Jefferson’s work also holds us accountable to future generations. What maps can we leave for them that make accessing liberation even more accessible?