Alma Thomas was the first graduate of Howard University’s art department. She then dedicated over three decades to teaching art at Shaw Junior High School in Washington, DC. After retiring in 1960, she fully devoted herself to painting. Thomas became a pivotal figure in the Washington Color School, a group of artists exploring color field painting.

In 1972, Thomas also became the first African American woman to hold a solo exhibition at the Whitney Museum of American Art in New York City. She drew inspiration from diverse sources, including music, space exploration, and most of all nature. She developed an abstract style of short brushstrokes that build dynamic, colorful forms on her canvases.

While living through turbulent periods including the civil rights movement and the Vietnam War, Thomas chose to center her paintings on beauty and happiness.