Blanch Ackers (November 28, 1914 – May 24, 2003) was an African-American folk artist, who was born in Arkansas but spent most of her life in Michigan. She began drawing and painting while in her seventies, and her work has been acquired by the University of Michigan Museum of Art. Early life Ackers was born in 1914 in Pine Bluff, Arkansas, to Paul (a poor sharecropper) and Harriet (Williams) Markham. She had one brother, James Markham. Career She moved to the Detroit area with her brother in 1943 to work for a factory, as part of the Great Migration, then later to Ypsilanti, where she spent the rest of her life. In 1985, Ackers began to work in the Willow Run School District as a foster grandparent, through a program run by Child and Family Services. Art While working as a teacher's aide at Ford Elementary School in Ypsilanti, the school's art teacher, Christine Hennessy, introduced her to drawing and watercolor painting. Her drawings, such as Homestead and Yellow Interior, often reflected her memories of growing up in Arkansas. In 2002, the University of Michigan Museum of Art acquired five of her drawings. On her work, Ackers once said, "I imagine it and I start drawing." She was represented by the Pardee Collection. Later life Ackers had one daughter, Birdes Lawrence Gardner, and two sons, Brodis Williams and Willie Williams. She died in 2003 at a nursing home. References 20th-century American women artists Folk artists Artists from Michigan People from Pine Bluff, Arkansas 1914 births 2003 deaths 20th-century African-American women 20th-century African-American people 20th-century African-American artists People from Ypsilanti, Michigan 21st-century African-American artists 21st-century African-American women African-American women artists