“The Guild within two years has arrived at the point in its development where it sees itself in relation to all artists, black and white.”

Presenting artistic solidarity as something capable of reaching beyond racial boundaries · Essay, The Harlem Artists Guild, 1937

• Art
• Community
• Society

“Few of us know that the art of the African Negro is the basic foundation of all the new schools of art in Europe.”

Arguing strongly for recognition of African art's influence on European modernism · Essay, The Future of the Negro in Art, 1924

• Art
• Culture
• Influence

“I knew anybody could go to camp in the sunshine.”

Finding humour and adventure in setting out despite unpromising circumstances · Essay, I Go to Camp, 1934

• Experience
• Humour
• Nature

“An ebony flute ought to be very effective for most any sort of singing for that matter.”

Using musical imagery to imagine a voice capable of expressing many shades of experience · Column, The Ebony Flute, August 1926

• Imagination
• Music
• Writing

“So lovely a name it is that I should like to have made it myself, but I didn't.”

Admiring a phrase while cheerfully acknowledging that someone else coined it · Column, The Ebony Flute, August 1926

• Humour
• Language
• Writing

“Could I mark this day I should put a black ring around it as one of the saddest days I have ever spent.”

Recording an intense moment of loneliness and homesickness in Paris · Diary, France

• Home
• Sadness
• Solitude

“I am all for the dear old culprit procrastination.”

Finding a characteristically playful defence of putting things off · Diary, United States

• Humour
• Time
• Wit

“To say that I was surprised and ashamed is to put it mildly.”

A candid expression of embarrassment and self-awareness · Letter to Joshua Bennett, May 17, 1925

• Emotion
• Experience
• Humility

“You were always glad to see them. You always had an exciting time when you were with them.”

Remembering the companionship and creative excitement of Harlem's artistic circles · Interview with Sandra Govan, 1979

• Art
• Community
• Friendship