The ability to be the first African-American painter to…

I taught myself to paint African-Americans, mostly people roughly my skin tone.

— Kehinde Wiley

“When the world one loves is seen to be dying, the viewer dies a little with it. A great American painter, Reginald Marsh, exemplifies…

— Anonymous

At a certain moment the canvas began to appear to one American painter after another as an arena in which to act-rather than as…

— Harold Rosenberg

I didn't think much about Marsden Hartley until very recently, but Gertrude Stein found him to be the best American painter in Europe at…

— Robert Indiana

I think that there are some people on the so-called Left who might say we have to circle our wagons around the first African…

— Cindy Sheehan

What I want to do is basically tell my generation's story about how music and culture helped affect a generation, and a generation that's…

— Steve Stoute

I happen to think that Hillary Clinton is a beacon of hope for younger girls, as was Barack Obama in other inspirational areas. We've…

— Alex Meneses

While we dance in the streets and pat ourselves on the back for being a nation great enough to reach beyond racial divides to…

— Harvey Fierstein

There are individuals who are working very hard to promote fear and antagonism towards Islam and Muslims in this country. It's fueled, in part,…

— Feisal Abdul Rauf

When people see Barack Obama, they don't necessarily see an African-American president. They see someone who is a child of immigrants. They see someone…

— Grace Meng

Everyone says we have our first African American president. Has there ever been a Jewish president? An Italian president? They don't say a damn…

— Monte Irvin

I have never been more proud of the United States than I am this year. We have elected an African-American president. We have the…

— Kathryn Stockett

My father is Nigerian; my mother is from Texas and African-American. My father was the first in his family to go to university. He…

— Kehinde Wiley

My mother's from Texas. Small town outside of Waco called Downsville. And my father's from Nigeria. And so I guess I'm properly African-American.

— Kehinde Wiley

My belief is that it is most important for an artist to develop an approach and philosophy about life - if he has developed…

— Jacob Lawrence