David C. Driskell (1931–2020) was a towering figure: an artist, scholar, curator, and a foundational force in the study and elevation of African American art. As a painter, he created colorful abstracts and mixed-media works drawing on diasporic symbolism and spiritual themes. As a scholar, he famously curated the landmark exhibition Two Centuries of Black American Art (1976) and founded the Driskell Center at the University of Maryland. His combined artistic and institutional work definitively reshaped American museum narratives and art history curricula.