Faith Ringgold was born in 1930, in Harlem, a neighborhood in New York City. She went to City College in New York to study art and earned her degree from the School of Education. She followed the family tradition of teaching, but never stopped creating her own art or telling stories. Today she is Professor Emeritus at the University of California at San Diego and lives in Englewood, New Jersey. She also has art studios in New York. She is married and has two daughters and three granddaughters.