"The problem of the 20th century is the problem of the color line".

Although the end of the Civil War in 1865 brought an end to slavery, the racial demarcation line continued to have a lasting impact on American society, as foreseen by the activist W.E.B. Du Bois in 1903 in The Soul of Black Folks.

The exhibition The Color Line, through Jan. 15, 2017, at Musée du Quai Branly- Jacques Chirac in Paris looks back on this dark period in the United States through the cultural history of its black artists, the prime target of this discrimination.

From the racist themes of American vaudeville and the Minstrels shows of the 19th century to the cultural and literary vitality of the Harlem Renaissance of the early 20th century, from the pioneers of black activism (Frederick Douglass, Booker T. Washington) to the indictment of the singer Billie Holiday (Strange Fruit), almost 150 years of artistic production – painting, sculpture, photography, cinema, music, literature, etc. – testify to the creative wealth of black protest.