“The talents of an artist, small or great, are God-given…I mean, they’ve nothing to do with him as a private person…They’re just a sacred trust…Having been given, I must give. Man shall not live by bread alone, and what the farmer does I must do; I must feed the people with my songs.”

“As for men of my race…I would do all that I can to help them shed the last rags and tatters of old oppression. But I help them best of all by being an artist. It would be foolish, wrong, of me to be a propagandist and make speeches and write articles about what they call the Colored Question while I can sing.”

Paul saw the artist as indelibly tied to the sole purpose of creating art. This was the best contribution he could make to mankind regardless of his political beliefs and of what others may be called or may call him to do. To create beauty, beauty which is truth, and to illustrate this truth for others is the undeniable duty of the artist. Thus, he was bound by nature to create whatever art was possible. By doing this truthfully and faithfully, he would necessarily expose the reality of the existence and validity of black culture and equality. Such an argument was often his response to criticism of the stereotypical roles which he accepted.

“I am one who tells the truth and exposes evil and seeks with Beauty and for Beauty to set the world right. That somehow, somewhere eternal and perfect Beauty sits above [the] Truth and Right I can conceive, but here and now in the world in which I work they are for me unseparated and inseparable.”