The story of African Americans in the visual arts has closely paralleled their social, political and economic aspirations over the last four hundred years. This book gathers works by leading figures from the nineteenth century to the present Henry Ossawa Tanner, Jacob Lawrence, Romare Bearden, Lois Mailou Jones, Gordon Parks, and Wifredo Lam.

Includes work by artists: Charles Alston, Benny Andrews, William Artis, Maria Auxiliadora da Silva, Kofi Bailey, Edward Mitchell Bannister, James Richmond Barthae, Romare Bearden, Dawoud Bey, John Thomas Biggers, Camille Billops, Nayland Blake, Mark Bradford, Grafton Tyler Brown, Maraia Magdalena Campos-Pons, Tony Capellaan, Elizabeth Catlett, Dana C. Chandler Jr., Willie Cole, Robert Colescott, Eldzier Cortor, Allan Rohan Crite, Frank E. Cummings III, Willis "Bing" Davis, Thomas Day, Roy DeCarava, Beauford Delaney, Waldomiro de Deus, Aaron Douglas, Dave Drake (or Dave the Potter), Robert S. Duncanson, William Edmondson, Robert T. Freeman, Sam Gilliam, Lyle Ashton Harris, Palmer Hayden, Felrath Hines, Sedrick Huckaby, Richard Hunt, Clementine Hunter, Mary A. Jackson, Sargent Claude Johnson, William H. Johnson, Loeis Mailou Jones, Wifredo Lam, Jacob Lawrence, Paulo Pedro Leal, Hughie Lee-Smith, Norman Lewis, Glenn Ligon, Al Loving (Alvin Demar Loving Jr.), Kerry James Marshall, David McGee, Archibald John Motley Jr., Gordon Parks, Marion Perkins, Horace Pippin, Harriet Powers, Heitor dos Prazeres, Martin Puryear, Faith Ringgold, Betye Saar, Agnaldo Manoel dos Santos, Augusta Christine Fells Savage, Joyce J. Scott, Josae Antonio da Silva, Walter Augustus Simon, Lorna Simpson, Arthur (Art) Smith, Vincent Smith, Therman Statom, Henry Ossawa Tanner, Mickalene Thomas, Robert (Bob) Thompson, Rubem Valentim, Saergio Vidal da Rocha, Kara Walker, Carrie Mae Weems, Charles Wilbert White, Kehinde Wiley, Fred Wilson, John Woodrow Wilson, Ernest C. Withers, Hale Aspacio Woodruff, and Richard Yarde.