Known for her exuberantly colorful canvases filled with abstract shapes and patterns, Alma W. Thomas had her first one-woman show at the age of 68, after retiring from a thirty-five year teaching career. She accomplished many 'firsts' in her lifetime: in 1924, she was the first graduate of the Fine Art Department of Howard University; in 1934, the first African-American woman to gain a Master's degree in art from Columbia University; and, 1972, when she was 80, she was the first African-American woman to have a solo show at the Whitney Museum of American Art.

Thomas was born and raised in Columbus, Georgia. In 1907 she moved with her family to Washington, D.C., into the house where she spent the remaining s...