"James Amos Porter was the first African American art historian. Born on December 22, 1905 in Baltimore, Maryland, he was the son of Lydia and John Porter, a prominent minister in the African Methodist Episcopal (AME) Church. Porter graduated cum laude in 1927 with a Bachelor of Science in art from Howard University. After graduating, he became an instructor of drawing and painting at Howard, teaching for 40 years, during which he was described as a gifted and influential teacher. Porter continued his education at the Art Student League in New York City, New York under Dimitri Romanovsky. Later, he met research librarian Dorothy Burnett in Harlem and married her on December 27, 1929. They had one daughter, Constance Porter. In 1933, Porter, now an artist, received the Schomburg Portrait Prize, from the Harmon Foundation, for his piece “Woman Holding a Jug.” He continued his studies in 1935 after a fellowshi...