Black Arts Movement

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The Black Arts Movement The Black Arts movement refers to a period of “furious flowering” of African American creativity beginning in the mid-1960’s and continuing through much of the 1970’s (Perceptions of Black). Linked both chronologically and ideologically with the Black Power Movement, The BAM recognized the idea of two cultural Americas: one black and one white. The BAM pressed for the creation of a distinctive Black Aesthetic in which black artists created for black audiences. The movement saw artistic production as the key to revising Black American’s perceptions of themselves, thus the Black Aesthetic was believed to be an integral component of the economic, political, and cultural empowerment of the Black community. The concepts of Black Power, Nationalism, Community, and Performance all influenced the formation of this national movement, and it proliferated through community institutions, theatrical performance, literature, and music.

The Encyclopedia of African-American Heritage. New York: Facts on File, Inc.,, 1997. Colliers Encyclopedia. New York: P. F. Collier, 1996. Encyclopedia Americana, International Version.

A great deal of the work created at this time was very opinionated and designed to empower and uplift African-Americans. The movement holds a tremendous effect and influence on writers that have come in the later part of the on-going insurgence. The themes, concepts, and social questions that the Black Arts Movement artists had influenced a new generation of writers who extended and related to the Black Aesthetic in more contemporary times. Conscientious novelists now write with the purpose to communicate the definition of blackness and the variety of the “Black Experience” correlating with writers of the movement. Natasha Tretheway‘s poem “Help 1968” is one that was subsequently influenced by the logic and perspectives of the movement.

The question is, is how did they do it? Who stood up for them? How did African Americans overcome the epochs of oppression? In this paper I will examine the answer, Black Nationalism, its advocates and additional sources, which it was comprised of. The precursor which led to Black Nationalism was the Harlem Renaissance which was an era of new beginning for African Americans through expl... ... middle of paper ... ...tury.

L. Krenn,M (1999). Black Diplomacy: African Americans and the State Department, 1945-1969. New york: Sharpe.

Print. Fanon, Frantz. "II- Racism and Culture." Toward the African Revolution: Political Essays. New York: Grove, 1967.

Modern Black Poets; a Collection of Critical Essays. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall, 1973. Print. Maxwell, William J., and Joseph Valente. "Metrocolonial Capitals of Renaissance Modernism: Dublin's 'New Ireland' and Harlem's 'Mecca of the New Negro."

The Harlem Renaissance was a pivotal point in history. While it did not break down the racial barriers associated with Jim Crow laws, the attitudes toward race did change. Most importantly, black pride became paramount as African Americans sought to express themselves artistically through art and literature, in an effort to create an identity for themselves equal to that of the white Americans (Gates Jr. and McKay). The Harlem Renaissance was the period of time between the end of World War I and the middle 1930s depression. Also called the New Negro Renaissance, it was a period in history when talented African American writers produced volumes of literary works.

“Life in the “Black Metropolis.” The Norton Introduction to Literature. Kelly J. Mays. W. W. Norton and Company, Inc., 500 Fifth Avenue, New York, NY 10110. 2013. Print.