Black Is the Color: African-American Artists and Segregation

Black Is the Color traces pivotal moments in the history of Black visual art, spanning from Edmonds Lewis's 1867 sculpture Forever Free to the work of contemporary artists such as Whitfield Lovell, Kerry James Marshall, Ellen Gallagher, and Jean-Michel Basquiat. Art historians and gallery owners situate these works within broader social contexts—including Jim Crow, World War I, the civil rights movement, and the racism of the Reagan era—while contemporary artists discuss individual pieces by their forerunners and the ongoing influence of these legacies.