Considered by many historians to be the father of black American art, Douglas was a frequent contributor to The Crisis magazine and was the only African American artist featured in Alain Locke's classic anthology of black writers,The New Negro (1925). Douglas is best remembered for his illustrative collaboration with author James Weldon Johnson in his book of poetry, God's Trombones: Seven Negro Sermons in Verse.

Reyneau painted Douglas's portrait in front of "Song of the Towers," the last in a series of four murals Douglas had painted in 1934, under the sponsorship of the Works Progress Administration. The series traces African Americans' history from their origins in Africa, through slavery, emancipation, and the great migration from the rural South to the industrialized, urban North. "Song of the Towers" addresses African Americans' entry into the northern cities.