"Never underestimate the power of art as the language of the people."

Think about that for a moment. Cover the next few lines of this editorial and imagine who might have said it, and when.

The names of painters or playwrights who could have spoken those words include all the groundbreaking artists who have seen, ahead of the rest of us, where society and history were advancing. They are the ones who not only capture the moment but convey in words and images what the movement looks like and the chord it will strike in each person. Shakespeare. Louis Armstrong.

Many an artist has uttered or portrayed such a concept, only to be ignored or silenced. In the United States, Black artists have long known what it is like to be dismissed or told to do their art differently from the vision they have for it — "for a different audience." The choice has often been to surrender their authentic artistic vision or keep it to themselves.

This moment in history is different. An eruption of Black music, art, drama, fiction, non-fiction and poetry has been rumbling louder with each recent year while artists struggled for publication or performance space and audiences began to grow. That it would be culminating in a pandemic year, when theaters are closed and audiences only online, speaks to the urgency for expression of the Black experience, which reached a climax in the same year. Black lives matter. Black artistic expression shows what that means.

The words at the top of this editorial are those of Amanda Gorman, newly known to the nation as the spellbinding young Black poet who recited her poem "The Hill We Climb" as an emotional high point of President Joe Biden's inauguration. She said them in response to an interview question from former First Lady Michelle Obama in the Feb. 15-22 issue of Time magazine.

"It's no coincidence," Gorman continued, "that at the base of the Statue of Liberty there is a poem. Our instinct is to turn to poetry when we're looking to communicate a spirit that is larger than ourselves."

We would respectfully enlarge on that insight: The instinct is to turn to art of all kinds when we need to communicate something larger than we are. This is such a moment for Black artists of all genres, national and regional, whose works are finally getting the attention they merit.

Artists and historians call it a Black Renaissance, as dynamic and fertile as the Harlem Renaissance of the 1920s. Author Ibram X. Kendi — who spoke here one year ago as part of the Conversation on Race presented by The Day, Connecticut College and the Coast Guard Academy — describes this moment as "the third great cultural revival of Black Americans," with the Black Arts Movement of the '60s and '70s coming between.

The local arts scene in Southeastern Connecticut has benefited for years from a rich legacy of Black poets, hip hop artists, rappers, dancers, essayists and visual artists, many of them young. New London is proud to have been the hometown of the late Barkley Hendricks, one of the important painters of the Black Arts Movement. Before the pandemic closed the Garde Arts Center stage for the duration, the theater annually hosted the Youth Talent Show, showcasing auditioned performers from throughout the region. Writer's Block InK continues to nurture the talents of young writers and performers. School-age writers annually submit fiction and nonfiction stories of African Americans in maritime history to the Reid MacCluggage essay contest run by the New London Maritime Society.

Careers in the arts and public life are emerging from these opportunities for young people of color to express their vision and their history. Kolton Harris of Groton, formerly of Writer's Block InK, now works as an arts programming manager for the state Office of the Arts. He understands where Black artists are coming from, and where they want to go. Curtis Goodwin, a founder of the Youth Talent Show and promoter of the significance of Black culture, is a first-term New London City Councilor who speaks up for the culture of communities of color.

It is Black History Month, and Black art continues to interpret that history, make new history and, sometimes, challenge us to reassess the honesty of the history we were taught.

Never underestimate the power of art as the language of the people.

The Day editorial board meets with political, business and community leaders to formulate editorial viewpoints. It is composed of President and Publisher Timothy Dwyer, Executive Editor Izaskun E. Larraneta, Owen Poole, copy editor, and Lisa McGinley, retired deputy managing editor. The board operates independently from The Day newsroom.