Black Arts Movement facts for kids

Quick facts for kids
Black Arts Movement

Nikki Giovanni, a participant in the Black Arts Movement
Years active	1965–1975 (approx.)
Country	United States
Major figures	Amiri Baraka Audre Lorde Dudley Randall Gwendolyn Brooks Haki R. Madhubuti Hoyt W. Fuller Ishmael Reed Larry Neal Maya Angelou Nikki Giovanni Rosa Guy Sonia Sanchez

The Black Arts Movement (BAM) was an African American-led art movement active in the 1960s and 1970s. Through art and activism, BAM helped create new cultural groups. It also shared a strong message of black pride. This movement grew from the amazing work of artists during the Harlem Renaissance.

Larry Neal called BAM the "aesthetic and spiritual sister of Black Power". This means BAM applied the same political ideas to art and literature. Artists found new inspiration in their African heritage. They used it to show the black experience in America. Artists like Aaron Douglas and Hale Woodruff helped start this movement. Their unique style influenced a lot of African American art in the 20th century.

The poet and writer Amiri Baraka is often seen as BAM's founder. In 1965, he started the Black Arts Repertory Theatre School (BART/S) in Harlem. Baraka's idea inspired many others to create similar groups across the United States. Even though many of these groups were short-lived, their work had a lasting impact. Some still exist today, like the National Black Theatre. Barbara Ann Teer founded it in Harlem, New York.

Background

Novelist James Baldwin on the Albert Memorial, Kensington Gardens, London

African Americans have always made important artistic contributions to American culture. However, because of slavery and unfair rules like Jim Crow, their work often went unnoticed. Despite these challenges, African-American artists kept creating literature and art. They wanted to show their experiences. A high point for these artists was the Harlem Renaissance. This was a time that highlighted black artists and writers.

Harlem Renaissance

The Harlem Renaissance and the Black Arts Movement have many similarities. Some experts even call the Black Arts Movement era the "Second Renaissance". You can see this link clearly in Langston Hughes's essay The Negro Artist and the Racial Mountain (1926). Hughes wrote that black artists should not let others control their art. He believed the "truly great" black artist would fully embrace and freely express their blackness.

However, the Harlem Renaissance did not have the strong political ideas that defined BAM. Many of its ideas faded away during the Great Depression.

Civil Rights Movement

During the Civil Rights era, activists started to see how art could be used for political change. Writers like James Baldwin and Chester Himes showed how a new 'black aesthetic' could be created. Several art groups formed during this time. Groups like the Umbra Poets and the Spiral Arts Alliance were early examples of BAM.

Art was also a way to deal with the stress of the Civil Rights era. For example, the ceramic artist Marva Lee Pitchford-Jolly made 'Story Pots'.

Civil Rights activists also wanted to create black-owned media. They started journals like Freedomways and The Black Scholar. They also created publishing houses like Dudley Randall's Broadside Press and Third World Press. These channels helped BAM share its art, literature, and political messages.

Developments

The Black Arts Movement really began in 1965. This was when Amiri Baraka, then known as Leroi Jones, moved to Harlem. He started the Black Arts Repertory Theatre/School (BARTS) after Malcolm X was assassinated. BAM grew from the Nation of Islam, the Black Power movement, and the Civil Rights Movement. Black artists wanted to create art that explored the African American experience. They aimed to reject older artistic traditions.

Black Arts activists often favored the ideas of the Black Liberation Struggle. This movement focused on "self-determination through self-reliance". It also stressed Black control of businesses and institutions. The Academy of American Poets says that "African American artists within the movement sought to create politically engaged work". This work explored the African American cultural and historical experience. The movement valued Black independence. This led to groups like the Black Arts Repertoire Theatre School (BARTS).

While BARTS helped spread the movement, it wasn't the only reason for its growth. Many Black Arts groups and institutions were already forming across the United States. These groups had connections with various Left and nationalist groups.

The Black Arts Movement brought success and artistic progress for Black people. But it also faced criticism and racism. Leaders wanted Black Art to define itself. They wanted it to speak for itself from its own institutions. Many people at the time thought it was absurd that Black people could express themselves through their own groups.

It's easy to think the movement started only in the Northeast. But it actually began as "separate and distinct local initiatives" across a wide area. These initiatives eventually came together to form a national movement. New York City is often called the "birthplace" of BAM. This is because many revolutionary Black artists lived there. However, the movement's spread shows that New York was not the only important place.

In its early days, the movement grew through printed media. Journals like Liberator and Freedomways created a "national community". They debated ideas and showed different African-American artistic styles. These publications connected communities outside major Black Arts centers to the movement. They also gave the general black public access to these groups.

As a literary movement, Black Arts started with groups like the Umbra Workshop. Umbra (1962) was a group of young Black writers in Manhattan. Key members included Ishmael Reed and Askia M. Touré. Touré greatly influenced Jones (Amiri Baraka). Some Umbra writers later joined Jones at BARTS.

Umbra was the first Black literary group after the Civil Rights era to make a radical impact. They created their own voice, often different from the white literary world. Black writers have always faced the question of whether their work is mainly political or artistic. Umbra itself grew from a similar group called On Guard for Freedom. This group was active in protests against the Bay of Pigs invasion.

In 1967, the Visual Arts Workshop of the Organization of Black American Culture created the Wall of Respect. This mural in Chicago represented the Black Arts Movement. It celebrated important black figures like Martin Luther King Jr. and Malcolm X. It also honored artists like Aretha Franklin and Gwendolyn Brooks. The mural became a symbol of the movement. It promoted Black consciousness and helped many Black people recognize their worth. After this mural, over 1,500 murals were painted in black neighborhoods across the country. Rival gangs even declared the mural's location neutral ground.

In 1968, Barbara Ann Teer founded the National Black Theatre in Harlem, New York. Teer was an important Black female artist and activist. Her theater was one of the first Black theaters to make money in the US. Teer's art was politically aware. Like other BAM artists, she used African styles and changed traditional theater ideas. Her plays encouraged the audience to help bring about social change.

Authors

Another group of Black writers was the Harlem Writers Guild. John O. Killens led it, and members included Maya Angelou and Rosa Guy. This group focused on fiction, but poetry was more popular. Poems could be built around chants and political slogans. This made them useful for organizing. Poets could also publish their own work more easily than fiction writers. This focus on poetry and performance became a key part of the movement's style.

When Umbra split, some members formed the Uptown Writers Movement in Harlem. This group included poets like Larry Neal. They performed poetry all over Harlem with "New Music" musicians. Some of them joined LeRoi Jones in founding BARTS.

Jones's time in Harlem was short. In December 1965, he returned home to Newark. BARTS struggled after he left. But the idea of Black Arts centers continued. This was because the Black Arts movement was closely linked to the growing Black Power movement.

The mid-to-late 1960s was a time of big change. Starting in 1964, riots in Harlem and Rochester, New York, began four years of "long hot summers". Cities like Watts, Detroit, and Newark saw unrest. This ended with widespread anger after the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr. in April 1968.

Nathan Hare, who wrote The Black Anglo-Saxons (1965), started Black Studies in the 1960s. He helped establish a Black Studies department at San Francisco State University. This led to a five-month strike in 1968–69. Like Black Arts, Black Studies saw wide activity in the Bay Area. Poet and professor Sarah Webster Fabio led efforts at Merrit College.

The early ideas of Black Arts came from the Revolutionary Action Movement (RAM). Both Touré and Neal were members of RAM. Another key group was the US organization led by Maulana Karenga. Elijah Muhammad's Nation of Islam in Chicago was also important. These groups gave style and ideas to Black Arts artists. Even artists not part of these groups were influenced. While BAM is often seen as a New York-based movement, two of its three main influences were outside New York City.

Locations

As the movement grew, two main centers for Black Arts ideas emerged. One was California's Bay Area, known for the Journal of Black Poetry and The Black Scholar. The other was the Chicago–Detroit area, with Negro Digest/Black World and Third World Press in Chicago. Detroit had Broadside Press and Naomi Long Madgett's Lotus Press. New York had few major Black Arts literary publications.

Even though journals were important, the movement also valued collective oral and performance art. Public performances drew a lot of attention. It was easier to get an immediate reaction from a poetry reading or street play than from individual works.

People in the Black Arts Movement used art to free themselves. The movement helped many different ideas and cultures come alive. It was a chance for African Americans to express themselves in new ways.

In 1967, LeRoi Jones visited Karenga in Los Angeles. Jones became a supporter of Karenga's philosophy called Kawaida. Kawaida included the "Nguzo Saba" (seven principles) and Kwanzaa. It also focused on African names. Jones also met Bobby Seale and Eldridge Cleaver from the Black Panthers. Additionally, Askia Touré became a leading poet and professor in the movement. Playwright Ed Bullins and poet Marvin X started Black Arts West. Dingane Joe Goncalves founded the Journal of Black Poetry (1966). This group became a main center of Black Arts leadership.

As the movement grew, different ideas led to conflicts. These conflicts eventually became too big for the movement to stay as one large, united group.

The Black Aesthetic

Larry Neal first used the term "The Black Aesthetic" in 1968. There isn't one single definition everyone agrees on. But generally, it means that "art should be used to inspire black people to fight against their white oppressors". It also "celebrated the African origins of the Black community". It supported black urban culture and encouraged black people to create and enjoy black art. Neal described it as combining Black Power ideas with African artistic values.

Neal said: "When we speak of a 'Black aesthetic' several things are meant. First, we assume that there is already in existence the basis for such an aesthetic. Essentially, it consists of an African-American cultural tradition. But this aesthetic is finally, by implication, broader than that tradition. It encompasses most of the usable elements of the Third World culture. The motive behind the Black aesthetic is the destruction of the white thing, the destruction of white ideas, and white ways of looking at the world."

The Black Aesthetic also refers to art ideas that focus on Black culture and life. It supported the idea of Black separatism. It hoped to strengthen black ideals, unity, and creativity.

In The Black Aesthetic (1971), Addison Gayle argued that Black artists should focus only on uplifting their identity. They should not try to please white people. Hoyt Fuller defined The Black Aesthetic by the "cultural experiences and tendencies expressed in artists' work". Ron Karenga said Black Art must be "functional, collective, and committing". Karenga believed "Black Art must expose the enemy, praise the people, and support the revolution". This meant art was tied to the fight for change. Art that didn't fight for the Black Revolution was not considered art.

The main idea connecting the Black Arts, Black Aesthetic, and Black Power movements was group identity. This identity was defined by Black artists and their goals.

Some critics called "The Black Aesthetic" too narrow, even Marxist. David Lionel Smith argued that "The Black Aesthetic" suggests one single, strict rule for Black identity. This makes it harder to return to African culture. Smith preferred "Black Aesthetics" (plural) to allow for many different possibilities. Ishmael Reed also criticized Karenga's idea of The Black Aesthetic. Reed believed it was too limiting and against artistic freedom. Another criticism was that The Black Aesthetic focused too much on black male talent. It was unclear if women were truly included.

As the Black population changed, Trey Ellis pointed out other issues in his essay The New Black Aesthetic. He argued that blackness is not a single identity. It is "multifaceted and vast".

BAM also looked to the religious traditions of voodoo to define black aesthetics. James Baldwin criticized both the black church and the Nation of Islam. He felt Christianity was forced on black people to justify slavery. He said the Nation of Islam failed in its goal to separate from white people. Voodoo became an alternative to Christianity and Islam for BAM. The history of voodoo among enslaved Africans had been forgotten. Turning to voodoo was seen as a pan-African way to reclaim their roots. This connection to voodoo is clear in Larry Neal's poetry collection "Hoodoo Hollerin Bebop Ghosts". It is also seen in Ishmael Reed's novels "Neo-Hoo-Doo Manifesto" and "Mumbo Jumbo".

Major works

Black Art

Amiri Baraka's poem "Black Art" is one of his most important and controversial works for the Black Arts Movement. In this poem, Baraka mixes politics with art. He criticizes poems that don't help the Black struggle. First published in 1966, during the Civil Rights Movement, the poem highlights the need for art to address racism.

Baraka calls out political leaders who he feels are not effective. He describes them "kneeling between the sheriff's thighs negotiating coolly for his people." He also talks about Euro-centric ideas of beauty. He mentions Elizabeth Taylor as a model that influences how beauty is seen. Baraka's message is for the Black community. He wants African Americans to unite without white influences. "Black Art" aims to strengthen this unity and creativity. Baraka believes poems should "shoot...come at you, love what you are". They should not give in to mainstream desires.

He connects this idea to the rise of hip-hop. He sees hip-hop as having "live words...and live flesh and coursing blood." Baraka's strong tone is like the early days of hip-hop. Hip-hop was controversial because it was "authentic, un-distilled, unmediated forms of contemporary black urban music." Baraka believes that integration takes away from Black identity. He thinks a black world can be achieved through pure and unapologetic blackness.

He points to a history of "unproductive integration" in music. In the 1950s, record labels had white artists "cover" songs by African-American artists. This happened with rhythm-and-blues songs. Another example is Run-DMC. They became widely accepted after working with the rock group Aerosmith on "Walk This Way" in 1986. This appealed to young white audiences. Hip-hop kept challenging mainstream acceptance. In the 1990s, Ice Cube introduced "gangsta rap". This mixed social awareness and political expression with music. Baraka saw hip-hop as revolutionary. It expressed itself through art without changes. This style of expression in music matches Baraka's ideas in "Black Art". He wanted poetry to be productive and politically driven.

The Revolutionary Theatre

"The Revolutionary Theatre" is an essay from 1965 by Baraka. It was a key part of the Black Arts Movement. It discussed the need for change through literature and theater.

In his essay, Baraka wrote: "The Revolutionary Theatre is shaped by the world, and moves to reshape the world, using as its force the natural force and perpetual vibrations of the mind in the world. We are history and desire, what we are, and what any experience can make us."

He suggested that black Americans should move away from a white aesthetic. They should find a black identity. He said: "The popular white man's theatre like the popular white man's novel shows tired white lives...". He also mentioned "bigcaboosed blondes onto huge stages in rhinestones". He implied that white dancing was not real dancing. These ideas questioned where black Americans fit in public life. Baraka stated: "We are preaching virtue and feeling, and a natural sense of the self in the world. All men live in the world, and the world ought to be a place for them to live." Baraka's essay challenged the idea that black Americans couldn't make a difference. He believed they could use art forms like poetry, song, dance, and theater.

Effects on Society

Ntozake Shange (1978), author of for colored girls who have considered ... / when the rainbow is enuf

The Academy of American Poets says that "many writers—Native Americans, Latinos/as, gays and lesbians, and younger generations of African Americans have acknowledged their debt to the Black Arts Movement." The movement lasted about ten years, from the mid-1960s to the 1970s. This was a time of big changes in literature. One major change was the appearance of new ethnic voices in the United States. Before BAM, English literature was mostly written by white authors.

African Americans became more visible in literature and all other arts. Theater groups, poetry performances, music, and dance were central to the movement. Through different types of media, African Americans taught others about their culture and views. Black poetry readings, in particular, allowed African Americans to use their everyday language. The Harlem Writers Guild, with writers like Maya Angelou, showed this. These performances were used for political messages and organizing. Theater performances also showed community issues. Theaters and cultural centers across America were used for meetings, study groups, and film screenings. Newspapers were key in spreading the Black Arts Movement. In 1964, Black Dialogue was published. It was the first major publication of the Arts movement.

The Black Arts Movement, though short, is very important to US history. It encouraged political action and free speech in every African-American community. It gave African Americans a chance to express themselves in media and get involved in their communities.

Some argue that "the Black Arts movement produced some of the most exciting poetry, drama, dance, music, visual art, and fiction of the post-World War II United States". Many important "post-Black artists" like Toni Morrison, Ntozake Shange, Alice Walker, and August Wilson were shaped by the movement.

The Black Arts Movement also encouraged public funding for the arts. It increased public support for various art projects.

Legacy

The movement is seen as one of the most important times in African-American literature. It inspired black people to create their own publishing houses, magazines, and art institutions. It led to the creation of African-American Studies programs in universities. Some say the movement started after Malcolm X was killed. But its roots go back even further. Famous writers involved include Nikki Giovanni, Sonia Sanchez, Maya Angelou, and Rosa Guy. Other notable African American writers like Toni Morrison and Ishmael Reed shared some of its ideas. Ishmael Reed said:

"I think what Black Arts did was inspire a whole lot of Black people to write. Moreover, there would be no multiculturalism movement without Black Arts. Latinos, Asian Americans, and others all say they began writing as a result of the example of the 1960s. Blacks gave the example that you don't have to assimilate. You could do your own thing, get into your own background, your own history, your own tradition and your own culture. I think the challenge is for cultural sovereignty and Black Arts struck a blow for that."

BAM influenced literature by showing different ethnic voices. Before the movement, literature lacked diversity. The ideas of racial and ethnic minorities were not valued by the mainstream. BAM also encouraged new and experimental writing styles in Black literature.

Influence

Theater groups, poetry performances, music, and dance were central to this movement. African Americans gained social and historical recognition in literature and arts. They were able to educate others about cultural differences through various media. Poetry readings were a common way to teach. African-American performances were used for political messages and community organizing. The Black Arts Movement spread through newspaper ads. The first major arts movement publication was in 1964.

Amiri Baraka's book Black Magic Poetry 1961–1967 (1969) is considered one of the best works from this time. He was very skilled at combining experimental styles with everyday language.

Notable Individuals

Notable Organizations

See Also