Absence does not raise a child

Quotes and Black Art | Thursdaysº

Jafari Joseph

May 21, 2026

Quotes and Black Art

Your Curated Art Museum

“Come for the art, stay for the quotes.”

“We’re taking a stand. The students at West Charleston High School are no longer sitting idly by while our school slides down the academic gutter. You can try to take our band and our library and our drama and our teachers away, but you can’t take our souls. And our souls will never let the powers that be take the arts from us. Our souls are on fire.”

— Kwame Alexander, He Said, She Said, 2013

A Snippet:

Did you know that in May 2021, American author Kwame Alexander contributed a 4.5 star-rated recipe to Bon Appétit magazine, entitled, “Barbara’s Picnic Fried Chicken”—named after his late mother, Barbara.

Learn more (and get the recipe below):

Quotes and Black Art

Thursday, May 21, 2026 (Edition 4)

Summer is around the corner!

10. “Lineage” by Shadra Strickland

Atlanta, Georgia, illustrator Shadra Strickland (b. 1977)—winner of the Ezra Jack Keats Award and the Coretta Scott King/John Steptoe Award for New Talent—on being a multi-hyphenate (as a creative):

“I think all artists feel they can do anything creative. Romare Bearden once said in an interview about his foray into songwriting, ‘If you don’t think this way, there’s no use being an artist . . . that you can do anything.’ I love that. It’s so true.”
- Shadra Strickland

11. “Walking” (1958) by Charles H. Alston

Harlem Renaissance artist Charles H. Alston (1907 - 1977)—a noted painter, sculptor, cartoonist, and illustrator—on the Black American experience:

“I don’t believe there’s such a thing as ‘Black art,’ though there’s certainly been a Black experience. I’ve lived it. But it’s also an American experience.”
- Charles H. Alston

12. “Juice” by Alim Smith

Delaware-born interdisciplinary artist Alim Smith (b. 1990)—who’s artwork has been described by critics as “Afro-surrealist”—on defining “Black” art:

“The idea behind art being or not being Black is not necessarily limited. We just have to do more than the average because critics are going to classify what’s done as Black art anyway—as long as you’re Black while doing it.”
- Alim Smith

"If the village elder does not teach the child, the village idiots will."

Taurus Birthdays!

(April 20th - May 20th)

May 17 - Sugar Ray Leonard
May 17 - Lena Waithe
May 19 - Grace Jones
May 19 - Malcom X
May 20 - Busta Rhymes

(Breathe In . . . Breathe Out)