Partially schooled, able to read and write at a rudimentary level, Person was one of millions of paraliterate African Americans in the southern United States. According to folklorist Roger Manley, who knew Person, the artist’s writing system was secretive but could be decoded by Person and selected family members. Manley notes that Person’s inscriptions often turn out to be mundane information such as telephone number and addresses, a fact that only deepens the mystery of the relationships among otherwise abstract works of art and specific individuals from the artist’s world.
