Gabriel Mendes, “Under the Strain of Color: Harlem’s Lafargue Clinic and the Promise of an Antiracist Psychiatry” (Cornell University Press, 2015)

Via http://newbooksnetwork.com/gabriel-mendes-under-the-strain-of-color-harlems-lafargue-clinic-and-the-promise-of-an-antiracist-psychiatry-cornell-university-press-2015/

This short article highlights the critical work of Black artists who helped to bring African-American experiences into the elite art world. Black Arts as a motion speaks straight to the needs and goals of Black America. The Black artist speaks to the spiritual and cultural requirements of Black individuals in their artistry.

The professionals of Black arts are inspired by a desire to face white power structures and assert an African American cultural identity. Black arts aim to serve the community and artists.

In his 1948 essay, “Harlem is Nowhere,” Ralph Ellison decried the psychological disparity between formal equality and discrimination faced by Blacks after the Great Migration as leaving “even the most balanced Negro open to anxiety.” In Under the Strain of …

Black artists stress racial pride, a gratitude of African heritage, and a dedication to produce works that show the culture and experiences of black individuals. In each period, occasions of the day galvanize black artists to develop, arrange, and change the world.