The Harlem Renaissance: An American Experience
Painter Aaron Douglas, the "father" of African Art, stated in 1925, "Let 's bare our arms and plunge them deep through laughter, through pain, through sorrow, through hope, through disappointment, into the very depths of the souls of our people and drag forth material crude, rough, neglected. Then let 's sing it, dance it, write it, paint it" ("Harlem Renaissance" 1, par. 4). These words of triumph and strife epitomize the state of living during the Harlem Renaissance in the United States. Liberation, cultural pride, and expression in the arts embodied this period in American history. Beginning at the end of World War I and continuing on until the brink of the Great Depression of the 1930 's, feelings of both acceptance and segregation contrived discord between blacks and whites living among one another. Effecting black Americans as well as America in general, this movement had a profound impact on our country that to this day is apparent in everyday life.…