Black Power Movement Analysis

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The Meaning of Revolution The word revolution comes from the Latin revolvere, originally used to describe the movement of celestial bodies around the sun. The term is now used today to describe a radical, sudden attempt of changing what is within society and its status quo. The social definition of revolution as it occurs in human history appears to be unpredictable on the surface, but through art, it has become an anticipated form of resistance. The Oxford English Dictionary currently defines revolution as a forcible overthrow of a government or social order in favor of a new system (“Revolution,” 2015). Social revolutions begin through the voice of one person or a common sentiment among people to bring change to the institutionalized …show more content…

The cultural values inherent in Western history must either be radicalized or destroyed, and we will probably find that even radicalization is impossible. In fact, what is needed is a whole new system of ideas. (Gayle 258). Neal reaffirms that art, whether physical, theatrically, literary, or even musically can help to bring about a specific cultural revolution in order to adapt, in this case, to the needs of the Black Power Movement. It is the art within this movement that serves as a catalyst for members to begin doing the work that they need to do in order to protect themselves from the harm that has made a name for itself as whiteness. America has typically seen the concept of revolution through escaping and overthrowing oppressive forces of power, such as Britain over the Thirteen Colonies or white supremacy afflicting the black population. Nationality, race and gender tend to oversaturate the narratives of revolution, but little has been said about revolution in terms of …show more content…

In this case, it would have a different meaning to different social movements. The Black Power movement saw revolution as something cultural, because their blackness is something they cannot hide. It is something they have to live with and the conditions they were living under just for being black were intolerable. The oppression they felt was strictly because of their culture, race and heritage. As for the Gay Rights Movement, the revolution they were in was purely based on sexuality. At the time, any intersectional lines between themes of race or gender were blurred as homosexuality was at the forefront of their movement. They can hide their sexuality unlike hiding one’s ethnicity, however that was the primary issue as they wanted to be able to freely express themselves through however they see fit, like the sexuality. The commonalities that these movements share are different, yet similar forms of expression in order to reach a common

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