McBride began his career in the 1930s in the circles of black art collectives and artistic opportunities afforded by the Works Progress Administration.
McBride distinguished himself as a teacher, as a cultural and political activist, and as a collector of African art and artwork by black artists of his generation.
The guild was formed by George Neal during the Great Depression, and its members met regularly to share techniques and skills, discuss art and politics, and raise funds for their own exhibitions and artistic pursuits.
He became renowned for his designs in souvenir books and posters for the SSCAC's Artists and Models Ball, which was the organization's annual fundraising gala.
[1] In the 1940s, McBride wrote a number of mostly unpublished plays, poems, and songs, and through the 1950s he was active in the Black Chicago Renaissance dance scene.
[2] McBride "looked to Africa for a visual language,"[4] which he found in traditional African art exhibited in natural history museums and textile designs he reportedly came across in the British publication The Illustrated London News.
"[5] He traveled to postcolonial nations such as Ghana, Benin, and Nigeria, and collected African art to bring back to the United States.
"[6] Early on, McBride recognized the talents of his fellow Chicago artists such as Charles White, Eldzier Cortor, William Carter, Charles Sebree, Richard Hunt, Marion Perkins, Margaret Tayler Goss Burroughs, Gordon Parks, Joseph Kersey,[3][7] and over time built his own collection of their works.
[1] "Alone in Crowd: Prints of the 1930s and 1940s by African-American Artists From the Collection of Reba and Dave Williams" an exhibition organised and circulated by American Federation of Arts, opening at Newark Museum, N.J. and the Equitable Gallery, N.Y., Dec.10 1992-Feb.28, 1993.