NEW YORK—Each time actor and activist Danny Glover passes the 135th Street YMCA, he reminisces of the days that the cultural hub used to host and house Harlem Renaissance writers such as Langston Hughes and W.E.B. Du Bois, and actors such as Ossie Davis and Paul Robeson.
“I’m reminded of how art reflects so many things, [like] the role that it plays in the development of human beings,” said Glover at a Harlem Arts Alliance (HAA) awards ceremony on Oct.1.
“The purpose of art and culture is to find the best of who we are as human beings, and embellish it, so that we not only live in the past but look to it for the present and create a new presence.”
Some may think of the Harlem Renaissance as an era that ended 80 years ago, or a movement that has become stagnant in modern times—but not so for Glover. He was celebrating the continuation of the profound impact artists play in the black community at the City College of New York’s Aaron Davis Hall, on the very stage Nelson Mandela spoke during his first trip to the United States.
