Amiri Baraka and Larry Neal

Total Page:16

File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb

Amiri Baraka and Larry Neal an anthology of Afro-American writing edited by Amiri Baraka and Larry Neal BLACK CLASSIC PRESS Baltimore, MD CONTENTS Black Fire: A New Introduction xvii Note to the first paperback edition xxi Foreword xxiii BY AMEER BARAKA ESSAYS The Development of the Black Revolutionary Artist . BY JAMES T. STEWART 3 Reclaiming the Lost African Heritage BY JOHN HENREK CLARKE 11 African Responses to Malcolm X BY LESLIE ALEXANDER LACY 19 Revolutionary Nationalism and the Afro-American BY HASOLD CRUSE 39 The New Breed BY PETER LABRIE 64 Dynamite Growing Out of Their Skulls BY CALVIN C. HERNTON 78 Black Power—A Scientific Concept Whose Time Has Come BY JAMES BOGGS 105 Toward Black Liberation BY STOKELY CARMICHAEL 119 The Screens BY C. E. WILSON 133 Travels in the South: A Cold Night in Alabama BY WILLIAM MAHONEY 144 vii Contents The Tide Inside, It Rages! BY LINDSAY BARRETT 149 Not Just Whistling Dixie BY A. B. SPELLMAN *59 The Fellah, The Chosen Ones, The Guardian BY DAVID LLORENS 169 Brainwashing of Black Men's Minds BY NATHAN HARE 178 POETRY CHARLES ANDERSON Finger Pop'in 189 Prayer to the White Man's God 191 RICHARD W. THOMAS Amen 192 The Worker 193 Index to a black catharsis 194 Revolution!! 196 Jazzy vanity 197 TED WILSON Music of the Other World 198 Count Basie's 199 S, C, M, 200 JAMES T. STEWART Poem: A Piece 201 Announcement 202 Poem 2°3 CALVIN C. HERNTON Jitterbugging in the Streets 205 A Black Stick with a Ball of Cotton for a Head and a Running Machine for a Mouth 210 SUN-RA Saga of Resistance 212 "The Visitation" 213 Of the Cosmic-Blueprints 214 Would I for All That Were 215 Contents ix Nothing Is 216 To the Peoples of Earth 217 Tlie Image Reach 218 The Cosmic Age 219 LETHONIA GEE ^ By Glistening, Dancing Seas 221 Black Music Man 222 K. WILLIAM KGOSITSILE Ivory Masks in Orbit 224 The Awakening 227 Towards A Walk in the Sun 228 DAVID HENDERSON Neon Diaspora 230 Boston Road Blues 233 Keep On Pushing (Harlem Riots/Summer/1964) 239 A. B. Spellman The Beautiful Day #9 245 tomorrow the heroes 247 friends i am like you tied 248 SONIA SANCHEZ poem at thirty 250 summary 252 blues 254 to all sisters 255 Q. R. HAND Untitled poem 256 "I Wonder" 261 RON WELBURN Eulogy for Populations 262 First Essay on the Art of the U.S. 263 JOE GONCALVES Now the Time Is Ripe to Be 265 Sister Brother 266 The Way It Is 267 MARVIN E. JACKMON That Old Time Religion 268 Burn, Baby, Burn 269 X Contents JAMES DANNER The Singer 269 My Brother 271 AL FRASER To the "JFK" Quintet r 272 LANCE JEFFERS My Blackness Is the Beauty of This Land , 273 Black Soul of the Land 27; Man With a Furnace in His Hand 276 WALT DELEGALL Psalm for Sonny Rollins 278 Elegy for a Lady 280 WELTON SMITH malcolm 283 The Nigga Section 285 Interlude 287 Special Section for the Niggas on the Lower Eastside or: Invert the Divisor and Multiply « 287 Interlude 289 The Beast Section 290 LEROI JONES The World Is Full of Remarkable Things 292 Three Movements and a Coda ^ 294 Election Day (Newark, New Jersey) 296 Bludoo Baby, Want Money, And Alligator Got It To Give 299 Black Art 302 BARBARA SIMMONS Soul 304 LARRY NEAL The Baroness and the Black Musician 309 For Our Women 310 The Narrative of the Black Magicians 3x2 Malcolm X—An Autobiography 315 HART LEROI BIBBS Split Standard < •. 318 "Liberalissimo" 319 Dirge For J. A. Rogers 320 Contents xi ROLLAND SNELLINGS Sunrise!! 322 Mississippi Concerto 324 The Song of Fire 325 Earth 327 CAROL FREEMAN Christmas morning i 329 i saw them lynch 330 when my uncle willie saw 331 KIRK HALL song of torn 33*2 wig 334 impressions 335 illusions 336 EDWARD S. SPRIGGS We Waiting on You 337 For the TRUTH (because it is necessary) 339 Every Harlem Face is Afromanism Surviving 341 my beige mom 342 sassafras memories 343 HENRY DUMAS mosaic harlem 345 knock on wood 347 cuttin down to size 349 REGINALD LOCKETT This Poem for Black Women 351 Death of the Moonshine Supermen 352 Die Black Pervert 354 ODARO (BARBARA JONES, slave name) Alafia 356 S. E. ANDERSON Soul-Smiles 357 The Sound of Afroamerican History Chapt I 359 The Sound of Afroamerican History Chapt II 360 CLARENCE FRANKLIN < Death of Days and Nights of Life 361 j xii Contents \ Visions . Leaders . Shaky Leaders . Parasitical [ Leaders ... 362 ! Two Dreams (for m.l.k.'s one) 364 j JAY WRIGHT The End of Ethnic Dream 365 The Frightened Lover's Sleep 367 YUSUF RAHMAN Transcendental Blues 369 RUDY BEE GRAHAM A lynching for Skip James 374 Learning to Dance 377 LEFTY SIMS An Angels Prayer _ 379 : LEBERT BETHUNE j A Juju of My Own 381 j Harlem Freeze Frame 382 Blue Tanganyika 383 Bwagamoyo 384 YUSEF I MAN Show Me Lord Show Me 386 Love Your Enemy 387 NORMAN JORDAN Black Warrior 389 Sinner 390 The Sacrifice 391 STANLEY CROUCH Blackie Thinks of His Brothers 392 BLACKIE speaks on campus: a valentine for vachel lindsay 393 j FREDERICK J. BRYANT, JR. | Nothing Lovely As A Tree 396 j Black Orpheus 397 ! SAM CORNISH Promenade 398 Turk 399 CLARENCE REED The Invaders 400 My Brother and Me " 402 Contents xiii In a Harlem Storefront Church 403 Harlem '67 404 ALBERT E. HAYNES, JR. eclipse 406 LORENZO THOMAS Onion Bucket 410 Twelve Gates 411 GASTON NEAL Today 413 Personal Jihad 414 L. GOODWIN The Day A Dancer Learned to Sing of DreamLess Escapades 416 RAY JOHNSON Walking East on 125th Street (Spring 1959) 418 BOB BENNETT "It is time for action" 420 (Title) 423 AHMED LEGRAHAM ALHAMISI Uhuru 424 Pome. For Weird. Hearts. & All you mothers 428 D. L. GRAHAM the west ridge is menthol-cool 430 A Portrait of Johnny Doller 432 the clown 434 VICTOR HERNANDEZ CRUZ O.K. 436 white powder! 437 JACQUES WAKEFIELD "We exist living dead" 438 "... days prior to" 439 "Oh shit a riot!" 440 KUWASI BALAGON Children of the Cosmos 441 If You Love Them, Wouldn't You Like To See Them Better Off? 443 Untitle 445 xiv Contents BOBB HAMILTON "Brother Harlem Bedford Watts Tells Mr. Charlie Where Its At" 447 Poem To A Nigger Cop 452 FICTION Fon BY HENRY DUMAS 455 A Love Song for Seven Little Boys Called; Sam BY C. H. FULLER, JR. - 467 Not Your Singing, Dancing Spade BY JULIA FIELDS 479 That She Would Dance No More BY JEAN WHEELER SMITH 486 Life with Red Top BY RONALD L. FAIR 500 Sinner Man Where You Gonna Run To? BY LARRY NEAL 510 Ain't That a Groove BY CHARLIE COBB 5*9 DRAMA We Own The Night BY JIMMY GARRETT 527 Flowers For the Trashman BY MARVIN E. JACKMON 541 Black Ice BY CHARLES PATTERSON 559 Notes From a Savage God BY RONALD DRAYTON 566 Nocturne on the Rhine BY RONALD DRAYTON 570 Madheart BY LEROI JONES 574 Contents Prayer Meeting or The First Militant Minister BY BEN CALDWELL How Do You Do BY ED BULLINS The Leader BY JOSEPH WHITE The Suicide BY CAROL FREEMAN AN AFTERWORD And Shine Swam On BY LARRY NEAL CONTRIBUTORS .
Recommended publications
  • The Black Arts Enterprise and the Production of African American Poetry
    0/-*/&4637&: *ODPMMBCPSBUJPOXJUI6OHMVFJU XFIBWFTFUVQBTVSWFZ POMZUFORVFTUJPOT UP MFBSONPSFBCPVUIPXPQFOBDDFTTFCPPLTBSFEJTDPWFSFEBOEVTFE 8FSFBMMZWBMVFZPVSQBSUJDJQBUJPOQMFBTFUBLFQBSU $-*$,)&3& "OFMFDUSPOJDWFSTJPOPGUIJTCPPLJTGSFFMZBWBJMBCMF UIBOLTUP UIFTVQQPSUPGMJCSBSJFTXPSLJOHXJUI,OPXMFEHF6OMBUDIFE ,6JTBDPMMBCPSBUJWFJOJUJBUJWFEFTJHOFEUPNBLFIJHIRVBMJUZ CPPLT0QFO"DDFTTGPSUIFQVCMJDHPPE The Black Arts Enterprise and the Production of African American Poetry The Black Arts Enterprise and the Production of African American Poetry Howard Rambsy II The University of Michigan Press • Ann Arbor First paperback edition 2013 Copyright © by the University of Michigan 2011 All rights reserved Published in the United States of America by The University of Michigan Press Manufactured in the United States of America c Printed on acid-free paper 2016 2015 2014 2013 5432 No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, or otherwise, without the written permission of the publisher. A CIP catalog record for this book is available from the British Library. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Rambsy, Howard. The black arts enterprise and the production of African American poetry / Howard Rambsy, II. p. cm. Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 978-0-472-11733-8 (cloth : acid-free paper) 1. American poetry—African American authors—History and criticism. 2. Poetry—Publishing—United States—History—20th century. 3. African Americans—Intellectual life—20th century. 4. African Americans in literature. I. Title. PS310.N4R35 2011 811'.509896073—dc22 2010043190 ISBN 978-0-472-03568-7 (pbk. : alk. paper) ISBN 978-0-472-12005-5 (e-book) Cover illustrations: photos of writers (1) Haki Madhubuti and (2) Askia M. Touré, Mari Evans, and Kalamu ya Salaam by Eugene B. Redmond; other images from Shutterstock.com: jazz player by Ian Tragen; African mask by Michael Wesemann; fist by Brad Collett.
    [Show full text]
  • African American Theater 21:014:401:01 Class Meeting Times
    Special Topics: African American Theater 21:014:401:01 Class Meeting Times: Mondays and Wednesdays, 10:00 a.m. to 11:20 a.m. Class Location: Bradley Hall, Room 313 Instructor: Shana A. Russell Office: 320 Bradley Hall Office Telephone: 973-353-3740 Office Hours: Wednesday 1-3 p.m. Email: [email protected] Course Title: Black Theater and Performance Since WWII Course Description This course surveys the development of African American theater from World War II to the present. It is organized thematically rather than chronologically but also considers the dramatic arts alongside historical social movements such as black power and black feminism, as well as discourses on gender, sexuality, and the black family. The class will look at the ways in which African American artists used theatre to engage in movements for black liberation and in some ways felt like the arts were central to activism. Key themes include: intra-racial class struggle, representing the black family, race conscious casting, the black arts movement, sexuality, black feminism/womanism, masculinity, whiteness, and definitions of black authenticity. Course Policies Attendance and Punctuality: Students are expected to come to class every week on time. This course is discussion driven and participation counts for a significant portion of your grade. If you must be absent from class please let me know in advance if possible. Only students with documented excused absences will be permitted to submit assignments after their designated due date. Academic Integrity: Plagiarism will not be tolerated under any circumstances. This includes using another's ideas in a written assignment without proper citation or cheating on an exam.
    [Show full text]
  • Art Power!: Exploring the Black Arts Movement
    Bank Street College of Education Educate Graduate Student Independent Studies Spring 5-1-2017 Art Power!: Exploring the Black Arts Movement Imani Parkinson Bank Street College of Education, [email protected] Follow this and additional works at: https://educate.bankstreet.edu/independent-studies Part of the Art Education Commons, Curriculum and Instruction Commons, and the Educational Methods Commons Recommended Citation Parkinson, I. (2017). Art Power!: Exploring the Black Arts Movement. New York : Bank Street College of Education. Retrieved from https://educate.bankstreet.edu/independent-studies/194 This Thesis is brought to you for free and open access by Educate. It has been accepted for inclusion in Graduate Student Independent Studies by an authorized administrator of Educate. For more information, please contact [email protected]. Art Power!: Exploring the Black Arts Movement A Curriculum Guide for Educators By Imani Parkinson Museum Education and Childhood Education Mentor: Cathleen Wiggins Submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements of the degree of Master of Science in Education Bank Street College of Education 2017 1 Abstract Art Power! is a curriculum guide designed for educators of early adolescents who are ​ interested in integrating art history, cultural institutions, and art making into their curricula. The guide seeks to highlight two New York City based institutions: The Schomburg Research Center in Black Culture and The Studio Museum in Harlem. In addition, the intended audience is for middle school students in New York City. It is believed this audience would benefit from learning about the history of African American culture related to New York City’s neighborhoods and the exposure to cultural institutions who value this narrative.
    [Show full text]
  • The Relationship of Black Power and Black Arts/Consciusness Movements to the Black Studies Movement
    THE RELATIONSHIP OF BLACK POWER AND BLACK ARTS/CONSCIUSNESS MOVEMENTS TO THE BLACK STUDIES MOVEMENT A Thesis Presented to the Faculty of the Graduate School of Cornell University In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Master of Professional Studies by Benjamin Jermaine Woods January 2009 © 2009 Benjamin Jermaine Woods ABSTRACT This thesis is an examination of three social movements that occurred during the 1960s and 1970s: the Black Power Movement, Black Arts/Consciousness Movement, and Black Studies Movement. This study acknowledges that each movement had its own distinct character and ideas, but had overlapping actors, ideas, and objectives. The thesis argues that the political nationalism of the Black Power Movement, and the cultural nationalism of the Black Arts/Consciousness Movement influenced African students in the Black Studies Movement. Therefore, the study centers on the Black Studies Movement. Each Movement was a response to the cultural hegemony of the dominant Euro-American society. The study traces the development of each social movement including influences originating from previous eras. The Black Power Movement helped students to understand the political purpose of education in the United States and that it must help to liberate African people from white oppression. The Black Arts/Consciousness Movement contributed to the student’s recognition of the importance of identity, history, and culture. The thesis demonstrates the dialectical and reciprocal nature of all three movements in the 1960s and 1970s. BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH Benjamin Woods was born and raised in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. His lineage extends to the All-Black Town Movement in Oklahoma. His Father was a student activist in the Civil Rights Movement.
    [Show full text]
  • A Conversation with a Literary Critic E
    New Directions Volume 13 | Issue 2 Article 4 4-1-1986 A Conversation With a Literary Critic E. Ethelbert Miller Follow this and additional works at: http://dh.howard.edu/newdirections Recommended Citation Miller, E. Ethelbert (1986) "A Conversation With a Literary Critic," New Directions: Vol. 13: Iss. 2, Article 4. Available at: http://dh.howard.edu/newdirections/vol13/iss2/4 This Article is brought to you for free and open access by Digital Howard @ Howard University. It has been accepted for inclusion in New Directions by an authorized administrator of Digital Howard @ Howard University. For more information, please contact [email protected]. THE ARTS Afro-American Resource Center at 20 A Conversation the university, “have enhanced our insight into and appreciation of With a Literary Afro-American literature. ” Critic MILLER: Dr. Henderson, let us begin with your growing up in Key West, Florida. I remember you talking about that experience as something that shaped By E. Ethelbert Miller your character and personality and proba­ bly grounded you in certain positions that E ditor’s note: The following was you took in terms of analyzing Afro- edited from a recent taped con­ American literature and Afro-American versation with Stephen E. Hender­ culture. Can you tell us something about son, co-author of “The Militant growing up in Key West and what makes Photography by Billy Rose, Ltd. Rose, by Billy Photography Black Writer” and editor of an that part of the country so unique in terms of Afro-American culture? anthology, “Understanding the still feel, a certain kind of gravitational New Black Poetry, ” among other HENDERSON: Well, Key West is very pull toward that part of the world.
    [Show full text]
  • ENGL 254 African American Literature Tuesdays and Thursdays, 1:00-2:15 101 Chitwood Hall ======Prof
    ENGL 254 African American Literature Tuesdays and Thursdays, 1:00-2:15 101 Chitwood Hall ===================================================== Prof. John Ernest Office Hours: 213 Colson Hall Tuesday, 3:00-4:00 [email protected] Wednesday, 1:00-2:00 304-293-9714 (office) 412-592-9790 (cell) ==================================================== This course offers a broad introduction to African American literature in the context of a variety of cultural experiences; and it offers also an introduction to various aspects of culture from the perspectives one encounters in African American literature. In our attempt to re-envision the past and present, we will look for guidance from imaginative literature by African American writers from the eighteenth century to the present, viewing each text as a framework for asking questions about social, political, and historical issues. Among the many writers we will encounter are Phillis Wheatley, Frederick Douglass, Zora Neale Hurston, Langston Hughes, Richard Wright, Ralph Ellison, James Baldwin, Toni Morrison, and Alice Walker. We will use an anthology of African American literature, so we will be more concerned about broad coverage than about in-depth studies of specific periods or issues. However, our readings of poetry, autobiographical narratives, fiction, and drama will draw us into an extended study of U.S. cultural politics involving (among other things) concepts of race, power, and identity. Accordingly, we will also read a text that offers an overview of African American history. Words of Wisdom to Guide Our Journey This Semester Truth, in my belief, is something which occurs when actions take place: not when phrases are contrived. Truth is not a word which represents correct response to an examination, nor a well-written piece of prose.
    [Show full text]
  • Defending Lorraine Hansberry's Integral Role in the Black Arts Movement in Juxtaposition with the Works of Sonia Sanchez & Adrienne Kennedy
    Trinity College Trinity College Digital Repository Senior Theses and Projects Student Scholarship Spring 2014 To All Sisters: Defending Lorraine Hansberry's Integral Role in the Black Arts Movement in Juxtaposition with the Works of Sonia Sanchez & Adrienne Kennedy Candace L. Baker Trinity College, [email protected] Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalrepository.trincoll.edu/theses Part of the Literature in English, North America, Ethnic and Cultural Minority Commons Recommended Citation Baker, Candace L., "To All Sisters: Defending Lorraine Hansberry's Integral Role in the Black Arts Movement in Juxtaposition with the Works of Sonia Sanchez & Adrienne Kennedy". Senior Theses, Trinity College, Hartford, CT 2014. Trinity College Digital Repository, https://digitalrepository.trincoll.edu/theses/384 TRINITY COLLEGE Senior Thesis To All Sisters: Defending Lorraine Hansberry's Integral Role in the Black Arts Movement in Juxtaposition with the Works of Sonia Sanchez & Adrienne Kennedy submitted by Candace Baker ‘14 In Partial Fulfillment of Requirements for the Degree of Bachelor of Arts 2014 Director: Diana Paulin Reader: Christopher Hager Reader: David Brown CONTENTS Introduction A Black World… A Black Art 3 Chapter One Black Art in the works of Lorraine Hansberry 8 Chapter Two The Black Art of Sonia Sanchez 28 Chapter Three Kennedy’s Inverted Black Art 48 Conclusion “Measure Them Right” 61 Acknowledgements 70 References 72 2 INTRODUCTION A Black World…A Black Art Considered the artistic component of the Black Power Movement, the Black Arts Movement (BAM) of the 1960s and 1970s featured many black writers and artists who explored the “essence” of black identity in their creative work.
    [Show full text]
  • How Sterling Brown Fathered the Field of Black Literary and Cultural Studies, 1936-1969
    University of New Orleans ScholarWorks@UNO University of New Orleans Theses and Dissertations Dissertations and Theses Fall 12-20-2019 All Trails Lead to Sterling: How Sterling Brown Fathered the Field of Black Literary and Cultural Studies, 1936-1969 Amber E. Zu-Bolton University of New Orleans, [email protected] Follow this and additional works at: https://scholarworks.uno.edu/td Part of the Cultural History Commons Recommended Citation Zu-Bolton, Amber E., "All Trails Lead to Sterling: How Sterling Brown Fathered the Field of Black Literary and Cultural Studies, 1936-1969" (2019). University of New Orleans Theses and Dissertations. 2711. https://scholarworks.uno.edu/td/2711 This Thesis is protected by copyright and/or related rights. It has been brought to you by ScholarWorks@UNO with permission from the rights-holder(s). You are free to use this Thesis in any way that is permitted by the copyright and related rights legislation that applies to your use. For other uses you need to obtain permission from the rights- holder(s) directly, unless additional rights are indicated by a Creative Commons license in the record and/or on the work itself. This Thesis has been accepted for inclusion in University of New Orleans Theses and Dissertations by an authorized administrator of ScholarWorks@UNO. For more information, please contact [email protected]. All Trails Lead to Sterling: How Sterling A. Brown Fathered the Field of Black Literary and Cultural Studies, 1936-1969 A Thesis Submitted to the Graduate Faculty of the University of New Orleans in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts in History by Amber Easter Gautier Zu-Bolton B.A.
    [Show full text]
  • Zealous Watchmen: Racial Authenticity, Masculine Anxiety and the Black Arts Movement
    Zealous Watchmen: Racial Authenticity, Masculine Anxiety and the Black Arts Movement By Zachary Daniel Manditch-Prottas A dissertation in partial satisfaction of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in African American Studies in the Graduate Division of the University of California, Berkeley Committee in Charge: Professor Darieck B. Scott, Chair Professor Leigh Raiford Professor Waldo E. Martin Spring 2018 Zealous Watchmen: Racial Authenticity, Masculine Anxiety and the Black Arts Movement © 2018 by Zachary Daniel Manditch-Prottas i Abstract Zealous Watchmen: Racial Authenticity, Masculine Anxiety and the Black Arts Movement by Zachary Daniel Manditch-Prottas Doctor of Philosophy in African American Studies University of California, Berkeley Professor Darieck B. Scott, Chair This project complicates and deepens black feminist and queer critiques that the Black Arts Movement (BAM) deployed misogyny and homophobia in the service of a masculinist vision of black liberation. Specifically, emphasizing the role of homosocial discourse in marshaling intraracial terms of black (in)authenticity. Zealous Watchmen proposes that key themes that mark Black Arts works—homophobic language, accusations of race treachery and of mimicry of purportedly white literary style, ambivalent observations of the “misguided masculinity” of black street hustlers—mutually constitute one another’s meaning around a common axis: the intent of the Black Arts authors not only to discipline but to emasculate other black men. I argue that bold proclamations regarding one’s status as a real black man were coupled with habitual accusations of failed black manhood articulated through a range of literary signifiers. Taking on the Black Arts’ most bombastic assertions of masculinity, as well as some of its more subtle rhetorical formulations, my analysis of textual discourse takes seriously the colloquial plea of “that’s not what I mean by that word(s),” probing it further, then, to ask what they did mean.
    [Show full text]
  • The Black Arts Movement and the Black Aesthetic: Where Do We Go from Here?
    The Black Arts Movement and the Black Aesthetic: Where Do We Go From Here? by Joyce A. Joyce, Ph.D. jjoyce @temple.edu Professor, Department of English College of Liberal Arts Temple University Having earned her Ph.D. in English at the University of Georgia in 1979, Joyce A. Joyce has given one of two keynote presentations at the American Embassy in Paris at the “International Centennial Celebration of Richard Wright’s Birthday” and a keynote presentation at “Richard Wright 100,” an international conference held at the Universidade da Beira Interior in Coviha, Portugal. A 1995 recipient of The American Book Award for Literary Criticism, she has published articles on Richard Wright, Toni Morrison, James Baldwin, Gwendolyn Brooks, Nella Larsen, Zora Neale Hurston, Margaret Walker, Arthur P. Davis, Toni Cade Bambara, E. Ethelbert Miller, Askia Touré, Gil Scott-Heron, and Sonia Sanchez. Her fields of concentration include African-American criticism and theory, African-American poetry and fiction, Black feminist theory, Black lesbian writers, and African Religion and Philosophy in Black Women’s Fiction. Her monograph in progress is entitled “Kaleidoscopic Critical Reflections of the Black Arts Movement.” The Black Arts Movement’s creative artists, scholars, and activists have come a long way from reading poetry in bars and performing plays in parks. Much change has occurred in American politics and culture since the publication of what I see as the credo of the Black Arts Movement—Larry Neal’s essay “The Black Arts Movement,” published in Visions of a Liberated Future: Black Arts Movement Writings, with essential commentary by Amiri Baraka, Stanley Crouch, Charles Fuller, and Jayne Cortez.
    [Show full text]
  • A Comparative Analysis of the Black Arts Movement and the Hip Hop Movement
    Black Social Movements Past and Present: A Comparative Analysis of the Black Arts Movement and the Hip Hop Movement by J. Vern Cromartie, Ed.D. [email protected] Professor of Sociology, Chair, Sociology Department Contra Costa College, San Pablo, California Abstract This paper focuses on Black social movements past and present with special reference to the Black Arts Movement and the Hip Hop Movement. It examines the Black Arts Movement as a social movement that emerged during the mid-1960s and lasted until the mid-1970s. It also examines the Hip Hop Movement as a social movement that emerged during the early 1970s and has lasted to the present. This paper presents a comparative analysis of both social movements and identifies their goals, ideologies, organization and status systems, and tactics. The comparative analysis also includes an examination of both movements’ internal development in the form of the incipient phase, organizational phase, and stable phase. Likewise, the comparative analysis includes an examination of both movements’ external development in the form of innovation, selection, and integration. In addition, this paper addresses some implications of the Black Arts Movement and the Hip Hop Movement as social movements. In this study, a mixed methods approach has been employed, including the case study, participant observation, and a qualitative survey. The research techniques include direct observation, interviews with people involved in the two movements, and content analysis of primary and secondary source documents. Keywords: Black Arts Movement, Hip Hop Movement, social movement, race, culture. 77 Africology: The Journal of Pan African Studies, vol.11, no.6, April 2018 Introduction During the 20th century in the United States of America (USA), Black people developed a host of social movements to address social problems they faced.
    [Show full text]
  • Edited by MABEL M.SMYTHL
    THE BLACK AMERICAN REFERENCE BOOK Edited by MABEL M. SMYTHL SPONSORED BY THE PHELPS-STOKES FUND PR NTICE-HALL, INC . if Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey 24 The Black Contribution to American Letters : Part II The Writer as Activist r96o and After Larry Neal Attitudes Toward Tradition All literature exists in the context of both a public and a private field of language. The writer brings his creative sensibility to bear on the tradition inherited from his literary forebears. Implicit in the writer's situation is the cumulative effect of that tradi tion upon the culture ofhis times. One could claim that the writer is essentially a creation of the books he has read. Ralph Ellison uses the term "literary ancestors" to describe the writer's relationship to tradition . In an article published in Dissent (Autumn 1963), editor Irving Howe accusedJames Baldwin and Ralph Ellison ofabdicating the tradition ofprotest literature exemplified by Richard Wright. Ellison retorted : "But perhaps you [Howe] will understand when I say [Richard Wright] did not influence me. If I point out that while one can do nothing about choosing one's relatives, one can, as artist, choose one's `ancestors.' Wright was, in this sense, a `relative' ; Hemingway, an `ancestor .' Langston Hughes, whose work I knew in grade school and whom I knew before I knew Wright, was a `relative' ; Eliot, whom I was to meet only many years later, and Malraux and Dostoevski and Faulkner, were 'ancestors'-if you please or don't please!"' What we have here is a clash between the private and public aspects of literary performance.
    [Show full text]