Art for People′s Sake

“Rebecca Zorach has written a breathtaking book. The confluence of the cultural and political production generated through the Black Arts Movement in Chicago is often overshadowed by the artistic largesse of the American coasts. No longer. Zorach brings to life the gorgeous dialectic of the street and the artist forged in the crucible of Black Chicago. Deeply researched, politically sophisticated, and beautifully narrated, Zorach makes a surprising and inspiring contribution that will deepen our understanding of the creative expression that emerges from Black life, community, and politics.” - Keeanga-Yamahtta Taylor, author of From #BlackLivesMatter to Black Liberation

“Rebecca Zorach offers a rich and detailed story of how artists, gang members, educators, curators, and Black Nationalists worked together to transform a Chicago community through creativity and affirmation—important models for today.” - Kymberly N. Pinder, author of Painting the Gospel: Black Public Art and Religion in Chicago

"Both fresh and refreshing, Zorach's book on the Black Arts Movement (BAM) in Chicago engages from the very first paragraph and fires on all cylinders—looking at the subject not only from inside the BAM but also in terms of how it challenged traditional art history. . . . Highly recommended. All readers." - K. P. Buick, Choice

"Using interviews, archival collections, poetry by Gwendolyn Brooks, historic census data, and other documentation, Zorach provides a detailed story of the artists, residents, and educators who worked together to transform Chicago communities struggling with the spatial constraints of systematic racism. . . . This would serve well as a resource on the Black Arts Movement in Chicago, community mural history, and African American art history. It is highly recommended for all libraries." - Stacy R. Williams, ARLIS/NA Reviews

"Zorach makes a rich contribution to the field of art history that has largely ignored the Black Arts Movement. . . . rt for People’s Sake should be required reading for artists, non-profit organizations, community organizers, and scholars interested in social movements, education, and art history." - Tracey Johnson, Black Perspectives

"[A] clearly written, engaging study." - Miguel de Baca, Art History

"With Art for People’s Sake, Rebecca Zorach makes a valuable intervention in art historical discourse. Zorach emphasizes the importance of the Black Arts Movement for better understanding artistic engagement with site-specificity, social practice, and performance art." - Benjamin Jones, CAA Reviews

"Thoughtfully argued and beautifully written and illustrated, this book will be a vital resource for scholars and students of visual culture, art history, urban history, and communication studies interested in the dynamics of race, collaboration, imagination, and politics. Many of its images (of which there are an astonishing number) are vital to understanding Chicago, the Black Arts Movement, and their dynamic relationship to place, politics, and culture." - Caitlin Frances Bruce, Winterthur Portfolio

“In this superb addition to scholarship on the Black Arts Movement, Rebecca Zorach captures luminously how black visual artists of the late 1960s and early 1970s strove to situate themselves and their artworks.” - Daniel Matlin, Journal of American Studies

"Art for People's Sake is an important addition to the new scholarship on radical Black Chicago in the 1960s and 1970s. . . . One gets a vital portrait of Black Arts in arguably the most enduring and influential center of the movement." - James Smethurst, Journal of African American History