Written and researched by Tobe Sweeney Jr., founder and creative director of DTOA Designs.
A calendar is the rarest kind of history lesson: one that stays in view all year. It hangs where people already look — above a desk, beside a kitchen door, on a classroom wall — and it asks nothing of anyone. You glance up to check a date and you meet a face. Twelve times a year, the face changes.
Our 2027 African American calendars are now available in wall and desktop formats. Here is what is in each one, so you can pick the right edition for the room it is going in.
American Legends
The American Legends 2027 Black History Desktop Calendar honors the Black pioneers, soldiers, cowhands, scientists, performers and communities whose courage helped shape the United States. Every month pairs original artwork with a significant date in Black American history — which makes it a ready-made morning discussion prompt for a classroom or a team.
Inside you will meet Bass Reeves, the Deputy U.S. Marshal who arrested thousands across Indian Territory; Nat Love and Henrietta “Aunt Rittie” Williams Foster, two of the best-known Black cowhands of the West; Crispus Attucks, among the first to fall at the Boston Massacre; the Buffalo Soldiers and Sergeant George Jordan; Cathay Williams, the only woman documented to have served with them; Dr. Daniel Hale Williams and Dr. Christine Darden; and the story of Black Wall Street in Tulsa’s Greenwood District.
Kings and Queens of Alkebulan
Two companion series, each honoring twelve African rulers with original portrait artwork.
The Kings of Alkebulan run from Pharaoh Narmer and the Kushite king Piye through Mansa Musa of Mali and Askia Muhammad of Songhai, to Shaka Zulu, Cetshwayo kaMpande and Emperor Yohannes IV of Ethiopia. The Queens of Alkebulan carry Queen Ahhotep I, the kandake Amanitore of Kush, Queen Idia of Benin, Queen Amina of Zazzau, Empress Mentewab, the Rain Queen Modjadji I and Yaa Asantewaa, who led the Ashanti in the War of the Golden Stool.
Both come in standard wall, desktop, and a premium Black & Gold edition with gold-framed portraits on rich black and kente-inspired accents.
Black Innovators
The Black Innovators 2027 Wall Calendar and its desktop edition feature twelve inventors and scientists whose work still shapes daily life: Benjamin Banneker, Elijah McCoy, Granville T. Woods, Lewis Latimer, Garrett Morgan, Frederick McKinley Jones, Dr. Daniel Hale Williams, Dr. Charles Drew, Dr. Patricia Bath, Miriam Benjamin, and NASA’s Dorothy Vaughan and Dr. Christine Darden. It is the most natural fit of the four for a STEM classroom.
Wall or Desktop?
Wall calendars are larger and read from across a room — right for a classroom, hallway, living room, office wall or community space, where the artwork is doing some of the work. Desktop calendars stand on their own and sit closer to the person reading them — right for a work desk, reception counter, study table or classroom shelf, where someone will look at the same page dozens of times a month.
Order Early
Every calendar is printed to order rather than pulled from a warehouse, so allow roughly 2–7 business days for production plus shipping. Calendars are also the most seasonal thing we make: most of the year’s orders land between October and January, and that is exactly when production queues are longest. If you know you want one, earlier is genuinely easier than later.
Ordering for a school, church, program or team? Contact us about bulk pricing and classroom sets.
Read the History First
Every figure in these calendars has a free, sourced article behind them in the DTOA History Library: the twelve Black innovators, Black soldiers and military heroes, Black cowboys of the American West, twelve African kings and twelve African queens.
Honoring the Past. Inspiring the Present. Empowering the Future.