Cruse became interested in the arts as a young man, thanks in large measure to his close relationship with an aunt who often took him to shows on the weekend.

100-370842 of assorted documents date August 7, 1950, to January 9, 1969) on Harold Cruse obtained under provisions of Freedom of Information Act, Washington University in St. Louis Associate Professor of English and African-American Studies William J. Maxwell noted on page 106 of his 2015 book F.B.

Cruse viewed the arts scene as a white-dominated misrepresentation of black culture, epitomized by George Gershwin's folk opera Porgy and Bess and Lorraine Hansberry's play A Raisin in the Sun.

But in reality Cruse simply believed that in a pluralistic society, any group must amass and control its own political, economic and cultural capital before true integration was possible.

On the first anniversary of the Cuban Revolution a group of black civil rights activists, composed of Cruse, Amiri Baraka, Julian Mayfield and John Henrik Clarke, travelled to Havana in a trip organised by the Fair Play for Cuba Committee.