Romare Bearden's "The Calabash"

Analysis: During the Civil Rights movement, African American artist Romare Bearden created many great collages,one of his most famous being "The Calabash." "The Calabash" is a collage involving an African American woman apparently washing her feat, while in the background there is an African American woman with her child. Bearden's purpose is to show the contrast between an elderly African American woman caring for a child and a youthful African American woman bathing herself. It seems as though the young woman has no responsibilities or cares while the other woman looks ignored, tired and stressed. The older woman in this picture embodies the Civil Rights movement because many African America women seemed to be in her position; stressed, tired and ignored.