The blue that dominates many compositions in the An American Journey series, captures more than the skies above Mississippi, it also reflects the significance of the hue to Black People. In Black in Blues: How a Color Tells the Story of My People, author Imani Perry bears witness to this phenomenon, “As far back as I can remember, I was aware of belonging to a group for whom the word “color” was potent. “The color of your skin,” “colored people,” “colorful people,” and “people of color” are all phrases that are associated with us Black Americans. And while “black” is our nominal color, even though our bodies range from alabaster to jet, the blues are our sensibility, hence the designation made famous by the writer Amiri Baraka: ‘blues people.’”