ABSTRACT
The imperative that art by Black artists be empowering for Black people intensified in the second half of the 1960s. From 1963 to 1965, the Spiral artist group in New York City had debated whether to strive for artistic achievement or use their work to voice social protest. By 1967, Chicago’s Organization of Black American Culture (OBAC) was using visual art to affirm the history and cultural life of African Americans, notably on their Wall of Respect outdoor mural. When several artists from that OBAC experience formed a new collective within the next year, choosing between artistry, social protest, or community activism no longer seemed pertinent. As the artists of this OBAC spin-off saw it, the pursuit of artistic relevance depended on both expressing a social conscience and engaging Black people.
