- David Drake, Two-Handled Jug (1840). Courtesy Virginia Museum of Fine Arts
- Robert S. Duncanson, Dog’s Head of Scotland(1870). Photo © Museum of Fine Arts, Boston
- Henry Ossawa Tanner, Interior of a Mosque, Cairo (1897). Photo © Museum of Fine Arts, Boston
- Archibald Motley, Town of Hope (1927). Virginia Museum of Fine Arts
- Horace Pippin, Country Doctor (Night Call) (1935). Photo © Museum of Fine Arts, Boston
- Charles Wilbert White, Goodnight Irene (1952), Photo courtesy Nelson-Atkins Media Services/John Lamberton
- Lucy T. Pettway, “Housetop” and “Bricklayer” blocks with bars (c.1955) © 2018 Estate of Lucy T. Pettway/Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art
- Gordon Parks, Race of Poverty (negative 1967, print later) © The Gordon Parks Foundation. The J. Paul Getty Museum, Los Angeles
- Jacob Lawrence, Dream Series #5: The Library (1967) © 2018 The Jacob and Gwendolyn Knight Lawrence Foundation, Seattle/Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York. Courtesy the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, Philadelphia
- Elizabeth Catlett, Black Unity (1968). Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art, Bentonville, Arkansas. Photo credit: Edward C. Robison III
- Barkley L. Hendricks, Bahsir (Robert Gowens) (1975) © Barkley L. Hendricks. Collection of the Nasher Museum of Art at Duke University. Photo credit: Peter Paul Geoffrion
- Romare Bearden, Profile/Part II, The Thirties: Artist with Painting and Model (1981). Courtesy High Museum of Art, Atlanta, Georgia
- Emma Amos, 22 and Cheetah (1983) © 2018 Emma Amos/Licensed by VAGA at Artists Rights Society (ARS), NY. Courtesy the Nasher Museum of Art at Duke University
- Robert Colescott, Les Demoiselles d’Alabama: Vestidas (1985) © Robert Colescott/Artists Rights Society. Seattle Art Museum
- Lyle Ashton Harris, Man and Woman #1 (1987-88) © Lyle Ashton Harris. The J. Paul Getty Museum, Los Angeles
- Arthur Jafa, Monster (1988). Collection Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago. Courtesy Arthur Jafa and Gavin Brown’s enterprise, New York/Rome
- Lorna Simpson, Two Sisters and Two Tongues (1991). Photo credit: Nathan Keay © MCA Chicago
- Kerry James Marshall, Our Town (1995). Courtesy Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art, Bentonville, Arkansas
- Carrie Mae Weems, Black and Tanned Your Whipped Wind of Change Howled Low Blowing Itself – Ha – Smack into the Middle of Duke Ellington’s Orchestra Billie Heard It Too & Cried Strange Fruit Tears (1995) © Carrie Mae Weems. The J. Paul Getty Museum, Los Angeles
- Ellen Gallagher, Pomp-Bang (2003). Photo: Nathan Keay, © MCA Chicago
- Stanley Whitney, Upstate (2005) © Stanley Whitney. Photo courtesy Nelson-Atkins Media Services/John Lamberton
- Jack Whitten, 9.11.01. (2006) © Jack Whitten. The Baltimore Museum of Art
- Mickalene Thomas, Din Avec le Main Dans le Miroir (2008) © Mickalene Thomas. Image courtesy the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, Philadelphia
- Julie Mehretu, Auguries (2010). The Baltimore Museum of Art © Julie Mehretu and Gemini G.E.L. Photo © Todd-White Art Photography. Courtesy White Cube
- Rashid Johnson, Multiple Consciousness (2010). Photo credit: Nathan Keay © MCA Chicago
- Detail of Wangechi Mutu, Family Tree (2012) © Wangechi Mutu. Collection of Nasher Museum of Art and Duke University. Photo credit: Peter Paul Geoffrion
- Nick Cave, Soundsuit (2013) © Nick Cave. The Baltimore Museum of Art. Courtesy the artist and Jack Shainman Gallery, New York
- Njideka Akunyili Crosby, “The Beautyful Ones Are Not Yet Born” Might Not Hold True For Much Longer (2013). Nasher Museum of Art at Duke University
- Detail of Hank Willis Thomas, Ain’t Gonna Let Nobody Turn Us Around (2015-16). Commissioned by the Nasher Museum of Art at Duke University. Courtesy the artist and Jack Shainman Gallery, New York, New York
- Henry Taylor, Hammons meets a hyena on holiday (2016) © Henry Taylor. Collection of the Nasher Museum of Art at Duke University. Photo credit: Paul Geoffrion
- Kara Walker, Slaughter of the Innocents (They Might be Guilty of Something) (2016) © Kara Walker. Courtesy Museum of Fine Arts, Houston
- Michael Armitage, The Fourth Estate (2017) © Michael Armitage. Collection of the Nasher Museum of Art at Duke University. Image courtesy the artist and White Cube, London, United Kingdom
- Titus Kaphar, The Cost of Removal (2017). Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art, Bentonville, Arkansas
- Xaviera Simmons, Session Six: Kitty Hawk from the project Thundersnow Road, North Carolina (2010). Collection Nasher Museum of Art at Duke University
- Nina Chanel Abney, Hobson’s Choice (2017). Nasher Museum of Art at Duke University
- Amy Sherald, Michelle LaVaughn Robinson Obama (2018). Courtesy National Portrait Gallery, Smithsonian Institution
- Kehinde Wiley, Barack Obama (2018) © 2018 Kehinde Wiley. Courtesy National Portrait Gallery, Smithsonian Institution