Marion Perkins

[4] During the Depression, Perkins settled down with Eva Gillion – his new wife – and bought a house in the South Side, known then as Bronzeville.

He sought to improve the image of the impoverished and racially segregated slums in Chicago's South Side.

As he grew older, many knew him to converse and engage socially with many known Marxists; many speculated that he followed the movement because of his struggles with poverty in his early life.

[10] Peter Pollack of the Works Progress Administration's Illinois Art Project and Southside Community Art Center noticed Perkins' work after passing the newsstand and soon introduced him to Simon Gordon, a sculptor who assisted Perkins with his formal training.

[11] Perkins received a $2,400 scholarship immediately after losing his job with the USPS for not taking the necessary "loyalty oath," recently installed by Truman.

He began to teach, and eventually became a fixture at the South Side Community Art Center and the Hull House.

Perkins taught sculpture at the Southside Community Art Center and Jackson State University.