Cynthia H. Roberts
Just as the history of man is reflected in much of the art he produces, so the changing role of the Black in America has revealed in the attitudes of the Artist who painted them.
Art helps to shape the Culture through ideas, it defines social attitudes, hopes, and fears.
An experiment in the Cultural education of the Afro-American was begun in Cleveland in 1915, founded by Russell and Rowena Jelliffe and staffed by Black and white instructors, the program of Karamu House sought to: Direct the black’s talents into the mainstream of American life, thereby removing him from the isolation that had been detrimental to his creative development and enable the Black Artist to communicate his unique experience as a black man and artist to the Nation.
