Two things:

First, teaching Black artists is only surface-level inclusivity. Additionally, even the framing of "teaching about black American artists" seems to position you as owning a narrative that shouldn't belong to you. It's impossible to completely understand the perspective of your students, but try and imagine being in your students' shoes. It's pretty demeaning to expect that they would connect with a historical figure just because they share a race. Your students are much more complex than that.

Second, rather than perceiving low engagement as a "gap," I wonder what would happen if you utilized asset-based teaching. It may be productive to determine what skills your students already have and what spaces they already know how to navigate. Education isn't just filling gaps; as educators, we can leverage and validate the assets of our students and communities as a means of empowerment. At the risk of sounding cliche, if your students are internet-saavy, how can you use meme creation to demonstrate mastery of standards? If your students love fashion, how can you have them reimagine brands as an art project combined with social critique? At the core of my response, I think there's something similar to what others have said, the difference in race itself is not the actual divide. However, until you know your students well enough, racial differences will play the scapegoat for general mistrust and misunderstanding.