Mike Henderson (b.1943) is a painter, filmmaker, musician and UC Davis professor emeritus whose work explores race, identity, violence and the possibilities of freedom. In the 1960s and ’70s, Henderson created politically charged figurative paintings responding to anti-Black violence and the social upheavals of the era. His work later moved toward visions of Black life that merged abstraction, surrealism and Afrofuturism, while filmmaking and music became important parts of his expansive practice. A devastating 1985 studio fire damaged much of his early work and marked a turning point toward increasingly abstract painting. Henderson joined UC Davis’ groundbreaking art faculty in 1970 where he taught painting, drawing, printmaking and filmmaking for 43 years, influencing generations of students before retiring as professor emeritus. In 2023, the Manetti Shrem Museum organized Mike Henderson: Before the Fire, 1965–1985, recovering and restoring important works once thought lost.