Born in New Orleans, the artist William Pajaud Jr. (1925–2015) was the child of Audrey DuCongé, a social worker, and William Pajaud Sr. (known as Willie), a trumpeter who played regularly for jazz funerals and for a time with the Eureka Brass Band. William Jr.’s early exposure to the brass band and traditional jazz scenes in New Orleans informed the art he created throughout his life. After graduating from Xavier University of Louisiana with a bachelor’s degree in fine art, Pajaud left New Orleans during the era of the Great Migration, moving first to Chicago and then Los Angeles, where he would spend the remainder of his life. He studied at the Chouinard Art Institute (now California Institute of the Arts), and in 1957 he joined the staff of Golden State Mutual Life Insurance Company, one of the largest African American–owned insurance companies in the West. During his tenure at Golden State, he developed the company’s nationally recognized collection of African American art.