A first-ever look at a network of Black visual artists in New York City’s Manhattan and downtown art worlds in the 1960s and 1970s.

This comprehensive account of the six-year history of Acts of Art, a gallery founded by and for Black artists in Greenwich Village in 1969, includes a complete exhibition record, biographies of the gallery’s key artists, and entries on important group exhibitions and events.

This first in-depth look at Acts of Art, and its role within communities of Black artists in New York City highlights the artists most closely tied to the gallery and its co-founder Nigel Jackson, from the early shows of Benny Andrews and James Denmark to the surveys of Lois Mailou Jones and Hale Woodruff. In addition to an introductory essay and complete exhibition history, the volume includes artists’ biographies and entries on important group exhibitions and events. This publication accompanies the exhibition, Acts of Art in Greenwich Village, on view at Hunter College’s Bertha and Karl Leubsdorf Galleries from fall 2024 to spring 2025.