![web-Fight-front-cover](https://www.heartandsoul.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/web-Fight-front-cover-678x381.png)
by Taroue Brooks
What inspired you to create “Fight On” coffee table book?
A conversation with my son about one of the many student jobs I had at Tuskegee Institute became the inspiration for my spiritual series. One painting and a great deal of research lead to over 50 paintings and a book that highlights the overwhelming contributions of the African American spirituals.
What is your favorite piece of art that you have featured in the book and why?
I’m not sure I have a favorite painting. In reviewing the work my primary goal was to create images that would best tell the story often hidden in the lyrics.
![](https://www.heartandsoul.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/web-Aaron-Henderson-Artist-JAS_3988.png)
What message would like for people to get when experiencing your coffee table book?
I hope experiencing the book will introduce some and reacquaint others to the power of these songs created by slave poets that we call African American spirituals. Also, I hope the book becomes more just another coffee table but a resource for the exploration of African American history.
Why did you decide to become an artist?
I started creating art at a very young age and I just never stops. It became a part of who I am.
![](https://www.heartandsoul.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/web-Fight-On-DSC_5313.png)
What inspires you to create?
I am inspired by African and African American culture and history, social issues, music, and everyday learning.
![](https://www.heartandsoul.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/web-Fight-On-JAS_6302.png)
Where can people purchase your book?
Fight On- A Visual Interpretation of African American can be purchased at www.zucotgallery.com
![](https://www.heartandsoul.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/web-Fight-front-cover.png)
What’s next for you in the world of art?
I am currently working of a series I started sometimes ago that deals with an exploration of “Black Rage” the cause and effect.
![](https://www.heartandsoul.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/web-DustCover-Back-Fight.png)
![](https://www.heartandsoul.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/Logo-Fight-On.png)
Fight On by Aaron F. Henderson artist and author is a visual interpretation of the African American Spirituals and brings together three dynamic elements to tell the story of the African American Spirituals Tradition: Sixty-two paintings from a series by artist Aaron F. Henderson, the lyrics of fifty-six spiritual songs, and narrative writings by scholars of art and culture, and Henderson himself. The elements come together to make this more than an art book, a lyric book, autobiography or cultural commentary. Fight On is a celebratory document of African American Culture, giving evidence to how Black People in a nation that grew rich and powerful on the strength of their unpaid labor survived and liberated themselves.