First in the Door is the story of the artist Arzell Thompson Jr. From humble beginnings at the kitchen table with his mother to having his artwork housed in collections at the University of Alabama and Princeton University, Arzell’s story is one of great successes, but also much adversity.

As the first Black man to live in areas he’s lived and to work in positions he has worked, he has faced his fair share of ugliness in his pursuits of making something of himself in this life.

However, this is not a story of failure.

This is the story of how an artist turned that adversity into a beautiful body of work that still continues to grow to this day.