James A. Porter - Honors and Legacy

Honors and Legacy

• In 1965 the National Gallery of Art selected Porter as one the best art teachers in the nation. Together with 24 other honorees, he was presented the award by Lady Bird Johnson.

• In 1990 Howard University founded an academic colloquium named in Porter's honor and has held it annually. The Colloquium annually draws leading and emerging scholars in the field of study he helped establish. Presenters have included Porter students such as David C. Driskell and Tritobia Hayes Benjamin, along with important scholars and artists such as Lowery Stokes Sims, Richard A. Long, Richard Powell, Michael Harris, Judith Wilson, Samella Lewis, and Deborah Willis.

Porter, "father of African American art history", left a strong cultural and educational legacy. Scholars in the field continue to explore and document artists of the Diaspora. Porter’s artistic and historical work provided a solid foundation for current and future scholars. Many scholars owe Porter for the inspiration to probe the depths of African-American visual culture and attest to its significance to American culture. Jeffreen Hayes, Scholar

Porter was a member of Alpha Phi Alpha.

On February 25, 2010 Swann Galleries auctioned an immense archive of research material amassed by Porter that consisted of photographs, letters, exhibit catalogues, art books, flyers, and bibliographical data on important African-American artists. There was also correspondence from virtually every major African-American artist from the 1920s forward: Romare Bearden, Lois Mailou Jones, Meta Fuller, Elizabeth Catlett, Hughie Lee-Smith and many others.