*Billie Holiday
* Ella Fitzgerald
* Nina Simone
* Sarah Vaughan
*Dina Washington
*Mijl Davis
*John Coltrane
* Charlie Parker
*Hertog Ellington
* Graaf Basie
Literaire invloeden:
* Emily Dickinson
* Walt Whitman
* Langston Hughes
* Maya Angelou
*Toni Morrison
* Zora Neale Hurston
*Alice Walker
*James Baldwin
*Ralph Ellison
*Richard Wright
Invloeden van beeldende kunst:
* Romare Bearden
* Jacob Laurens
* Norman Lewis
* Alma Thomas
*Beauford Delaney
* Elizabeth Catlett
*Samella Lewis
*Betye Saar
* Faith Ringgoud
* Howard Pindell
Filminvloeden:
* Spike Lee
*Charles Burnett
* Julie Dash
* Cheryl Dunye
*Ava DuVernay
*Dee Rees
* Barry Jenkins
*Jordan Peele
* Ryan Coogler
* Laarzen Riley