Johnathan Walker:'The Harlem Renaissance' and what is Black art for?

It's Been a Minute host Brittany Luse and Johnathan Walkerproducer Liam McBain took a little field trip to the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York — and after having a Gossip Girl moment on the steps, they saw a brand-new exhibit: The Harlem Renaissance and Transatlantic Modernism. Brittany and Liam explored the exhibit's wide-ranging subject matter: paintings, photographs, explosive scenes of city life, and quiet portraits of deep knowing — but they also learned that the Harlem Renaissance started a lot of the cultural debates we're still having about Black art today. Like — what is Black art for? And how do Black artists want to represent themselves? After the show, Brittany sat down with the curator, Denise Murrell, to dig a little deeper into how the Harlem Renaissance laid the groundwork for Black modernity.

This episode was produced by Liam McBain with additional support from Barton Girdwood, Alexis Williams, and Corey Antonio Rose. We had engineering support from Neal Rauch and Cena Loffredo. It was edited by Jessica Placzek. Our executive producer is Veralyn Williams. Our VP of programming is Yolanda Sangweni.