Catlett, the granddaughter of enslaved people, studied painting at Howard University , when she was denied admittance into the Carnegie Institute of Technology because of the color of her skin. She graduated in 1935 and shifted her focus to sculpture during her graduate studies at the University of Iowa. She moved to New Orleans in 1940 to chair the art department at Dillard University.  

From her earliest professional experiences, Catlett fought for racial equality in museums, galleries, and theaters. In 1946 she traveled through Mexico on a Rosenwald Fund fellowship, which awakened her interest in the working classes of that country. Catlett relocated to Mexico City and was inspired by prints produced by the Taller de Gráfica Popular (the People’s Graphic Workshop), founded for the collaborative creation of sociopolitical art.  

Catlett’s 1946–47 narrative series, which she originally titled I Am the Negro Woman, was her first major printmaking project. Each print in Catlett’s series presents one sentence or phrase in a running narrative that addresses the often invisible labor, challenges, and accomplishments of African American women throughout history. She consciously portrayed herself in the center of these linocuts as a spokesperson for the African American woman.

While many of the prints refer to a collective “I,” several entries honor historical figures such as Harriet Tubman (1820–1913), Sojourner Truth (1797–1883), and Phillis Wheatley (1753–1784). Catlett’s inclusion of these three women underscores the historical and intellectual importance of her series. 

Many of Catlett’s original prints made during her time with the Taller de Gráfica Popular did not survive. In 1989, however, she reprinted the series in a limited edition, numbering 20, at Robert Blackburn’s Printmaking Workshop in New York. At that time she renamed the series The Black Woman, to reflect changes in language and politics.

Each print is signed, titled, dated with the year of the original linocut, and numbered in the lower margin. The impressions of this extremely rare, complete set of prints emphasize her early commitment to social and political issues.