The Weusi Artists

This essay outlines the formation of the Weusi Artists, begun in Harlem in 1965 as an African American artists’ collective. The word Weusi translates as “blackness” in Swahili. Together the artists founded a gallery and academy of fine arts and studies, both of which became great motivating forces in the development, production, and dissemination of black art during the 1960s and 1970s.