Perry, Regenia, 1970 - 1977

Regenia Alfreda Perry, African American art historian, was born in 1941 in Virgilina, Virginia. She received a Bachelor of Science degree from Virginia State College (now Virginia State University) in 1961, and went to Western Reserve University (now Case Western Reserve University) in Cleveland, Ohio, where she received a Ph.D. in Art History in 1966. Perry is the first African American woman to hold doctorates in art history and American art. She has published books on African American art, including James Van Der Zee, Photographer (1973), The Folk Tradition in Black American Art (1975), Black Folk Art in America (with John Beardsley, 1982), and Harriet Powers Bible Quilts (1994). She also has taught at numerous colleges and universities, including Howard University (Washington, D.C.), though the majority of her professorial career was spent at Virginia Commonwealth University (Richmond, Virginia). Perry also founded Raven Arts, an art consulting firm that represents African American folk artists.

[From finding aid of the Regenia Papers, Emory University, https://findingaids.library.emory.edu/documents/perry1312/printable/]