The Cosby Show an artist vision

After allegations surfaced against Bill Cosby, I knew fans that refused to believe Cosby would drug and “take advantage” of women. (They couldn’t even use the word rape.)  I reminded these Cosby Show fans that they knew the sitcom character Dr. Cliff Huxtable not Bill Cosby.
That’s the power of television, images instilled in childhood remain influential, and when The Cosby Show aired from 1984-1992 Cliff Huxtable was the most influential character made for television, but Cliff Huxtable’s influence wasn’t based solely on the sitcom’s success it stemmed from the artistic vision of his creators.
Before television there were two Harlem Renaissance figures with contrasting artistic visions.  Countee Cullen expressed his desire to be a writer not a Black writer.  Cullen believed in a universal art that could stretch the imagination beyond superficial differences and depict the essence of humanity.  Langston Hughes’s art was fueled by dual consciousness.  (A concept suggesting Blacks couldn’t have allegiance to both race and nationality.)   Hughes felt he was responsible to the audience to write from a Black perspective.