Black Arts Movement

1. Black Arts Movement Darius Teng

2. mid 1960s to mid 1970s • Caused by dissatisfaction from some Activists of the progress of the Civil Rights movement, which they saw as limited • Social change would come with revolution, not through the mainstream protests • Grew with the assassinations of Malcolm X and Martin Luther King Jr., FBI war against Black Power groups like Black Panthers Black Power Movement

3. Black Power Movement Cont. • After these events many believed white society and the government was unable to or unwilling to help the black community gain equality • Cynicism and suspicion towards government grew • Increased popularity of the movement • Movement had a tendency towards black nationalism and separatism • Independence rather than integration

4. Emphasized self-determination, need for economic and political self-sufficiency • Establishment of black-owned businesses, militant acts of defiance, pressuring of schools and colleges to develop black studies programs, electing of black candidates to public office • By mid 1970s the movement was almost completely over because many goals were adopted by the Civil Rights movement Black Power Movement Cont.

5. Polarization, 1972

6. 1965 to 1975 • Viewed as the artistic part of Black Power movement because the basic ideas that defined them were the same • Literature, poetry performances, theater groups, music, and dance were central to the movement • Focus on themes of oppression and African American identity • Invoked political activism • Criticized for occasionally being racist, misogynist, homophobic, and anti-Semitic • Praised for encouraging people to establish distinct voices in literature Black Arts Movement

7. If I Were Jehovah, 1970

8. http://www.timetoast.com/timelines/black-arts-movement Timeline

9. Confrontation at the Bridge, 1974

10. Topics of family, black identity, government or white oppression, action against injustice • Death, blood, riots, and weapons • Often has a militant or gloomy tone • Use of African American vernacular English Characteristics of BAM Poetry

11. Aunt Jemima and the Pillsbury Doughboy, 1963

12. Born 1917 in Topeka, Kansas • Originally did not write very political poems • Became part of the movement after a gathering of black authors at Fisk University in 1967 • In the Mecca was first BAM work and a critic called it "raw power and roughness" • First black author to win Pulitzer Prize • Writes about the lower class in black neighborhoods • Poetry often involves character and everyday life • Uses traditional ballads, sonnets, and free verse Gwendolyn Brooks

13. Born in 1934in Newark, NJ • In 1950she was associated with Beat poets • Trip to Cuba in 1959 and met artists concerned with poverty and oppressive governments • After assassination of Malcolm X moved from Greenwich to Harlem in 1965 and established the Black Arts Repertory Theater/School • move is considered the beginning of the Black Arts movement AmiriBaraka

14. wrote The System of Dante’s Hell and Tales, which signified his break from Beat influence • Both stories were psychological novels where a black protagonist struggles against white oppression • BAM works have an incendiary and confrontational style • Works often shocked his audience • Praised for emotional power, accused of fostering hate • In 1974 he denounced the BAM for being racist and became involved with third world liberation movements Amiri Baraka

15. Dudley Randall • born January 1914, DC • Founded Broadside Press, which published many BAM artists’ works • Experimented with a variety of styles • Sometimes uses fixed forms like haiku, dramatic monologue, often free verse • lots of imagery • Famous “Ballad of Birmingham” was response to 1963 church bombing

16. Unite, 1971

17. http://www.poetryfoundation.org/poem/172092 “Ballad of Rudolph Reed”

18. http://www.english.illinois.edu/maps/blackarts/historical.htmhttp://www.english.illinois.edu/maps/blackarts/historical.htm • http://www.english.illinois.edu/maps/blackarts/gabbin.htm • http://www.english.illinois.edu/maps/poets/a_f/baraka/bio.htm • http://www.english.illinois.edu/maps/poets/a_f/brooks/life.htm • http://xroads.virginia.edu/~UG01/hughes/time.html • http://www.poets.org/viewmedia.php/prmMID/5647 • http://mlk-kpp01.stanford.edu/index.php/encyclopedia/encyclopedia/enc_black_power/ • http://www.poetryfoundation.org/bio/gwendolyn-brooks • http://hoover.archives.gov/exhibits/africanamerican/blackpower/index.html • http://library.uncg.edu/dp/crg/topicalessays/blackpowermovement.aspx • http://www.pbs.org/thisfarbyfaith/timeline/p_4.html • http://www.ibiblio.org/sncc/black_power.html • http://www.ushistory.org/us/54i.asp • http://xroads.virginia.edu/~ug01/hughes/intro.html • http://wuster338fall2011.wordpress.com/student-pages/black-arts-movement/ • http://www.poetryvisualized.com/poet/187/Dudley/ Sites Used