The Black Arts Movement (1965 – 1975)
"Sometimes referred to as 'the artistic sister of the Black Power Movement,' the Black Arts Movement stands as the single most controversial moment in the history of African-American literature.” - Time (Oct. 10, 1994)
The Black Arts Movement was the name given to a group of politically motivated black poets, artist, dramatist, musicians and writers who emerged in the wake of the Black Power Movement. The Black Arts Movement was spurned by the assassination of Black Nationalist Leader Malcolm X in 1965. Many people of the African-American community were deeply affected by Malcolm X death which resonated a movement of Cultural Nationalism. Leroi Jones (Amiri Baraka) founded the Black Arts Repertory Theatre which marked the beginning of the Black Arts Movement.
The Black Arts Movement reflects the pride of black people as a means to awaken black consciousness and liberation of black people. The Black Arts Movement is a form of artistic expression on black culture and black history illustrated through literature, poetry, music and theater. The Black Arts Movement reveals the struggles, strengths and celebrations of African Americans. The Black Power Movement like the Black Arts Movement helped increase the political activism which expressed the importance of cultural values through various art forms.
The Black Arts Movement, also known as the Black Aesthetics Movement, was the spiritual sister of the Black power. As racial inequality prevailed and black leaders such as Medgar Evers, Malcolm X and Martin Luther King Jr. were assassinated/ the relationship between the Black Power and Black Arts Movement became the voice of the movement. The Black Arts Movement was mostly dominated by men who identify with being a black man in society confronting the opposition. The black women during the Black Arts Movement were fueled by ideals of Africana womanist, feminism and in some cases, homosexual pride. The women focused on sexism, misogynoir, motherhood, and homosexuality, while incorporating their ideals of Black Power and Black Nationalism.
Poets of the Black Arts Movement include Amari Baraks, Maya Angelou, James Baldwin, June Jordan, Sonia Sanchez, Ntozake Shange, Audre Lord, Gwendolyn Brooks, Ed Bullins, Eldridge Ceaver, Jayne Cortez, Harold Cruse, Mari Evans, Hoyt Fuller, Nikki Giovanni, Lorraine Hansberry, Gil-Scott Heron, Maulana Ron Karenga, Etheridge Knigh, Adrienne Kennedy, Haki R. Madhubuti, Larry Neal, Ishmael Redd, Sonia Sanchez, Ntozake Shange, Quincy Troupe, and John Alfred Williams.
African American songs and sermons in free verse were experimental, incorporating jazz, the blues and linguistic and rhythmic techniques also characteristics of the Beat movement. The Black Arts movement, motivated other writers, namely, Native Americans, Latinos/as, gays and lesbians and younger generations of African Americans. The Black Arts Movement helped lay the foundation for modern-day spoken word, rap, slam poets, and hip hop that drew on the movement’s legacy of the 60’s. Through the Black Arts Movement black artist began to assimilate on their own backgrounds, their own history, their own traditions and their own cultures to the creative expression on black culture we have today.
The Black Arts Movement served a means of protest, separate from the political. The major people of the Black Arts Movement were Amiri Baraka who wrote, “Black Art,” “Black Magic” and “The Revolutionary Theatre.” Larry Neal, whose most notable work with Amiri Baraka, Black Fire and his work “The Black Arts Movement.” Nikki Giovanni major work was “Black Feeling, Black Talk/Black Judgement. Nikki Giovanni ideology inspired by black culture, identity, and pride.
February 27 2017 marks the 50th anniversary of the Black Arts Movement.