Black Arts Movement: Political Activism Through Art - Research Paper

Introduction

The black Arts Movement was a title that was given to a group of blacks who were politically motivated. They consisted of dramatist, poets, writers, and artists who arose in the come around of the black power (Kimberley). It was powerful from 1965 to 1976 and was about the African-American ethnic production, which anticipated that involvement was a main responsibility of the black artist. The movement declared that the merely only radical completion of the black artist's hard work was the deliverance from the white artistic and political power configurations. At the same time as the white were to be bare of their factual to be forbidden or describe black personality. The white artistic values were to be conquered and substituted the creative ethics arising from the black civic. The movement was founded by Amiri Baraka who was a poet.

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After the assassination of Malcolm X in 1965, Amiri made a move in Manhattan where he founded a Black Arts Production school and theater. The movement got a very great impact on poetry and theater. It began in New York and later spread to San Francisco, Chicago, Detroit, Illinois, and Michigan. Amiri also become popular through a play (Dutchman) which was a shocking act that was emotional with fundamental black realization and symbolism (Anadolu-Okur) There was good teamwork between the conventional black musicians and the cultural autonomist of the Black Art Movement. The celebrated jazz musicians' such as Archie Shepp, Thelonious Monk, John Coltrane, and others. Cultural separationist saw jazz music black art custom that was more politically appealing that gospel, blues, soul and rhythm and other types of black songs.

Even though the artistic works of the movement were frequently innovative and profound, they correspondingly often estranged both white and black typical culture with their raw tremor value which repeatedly comprised violence. Several of the most conspicuous works were viewed to be sexist, racist, anti-Semitic and homophobic. Most of this work set forth a black hyper virility in reply to historical degradation and humiliation of African American men but regularly at the cost of some black female opinions.

However, the movement began to weaken when Baraka and other major member shifted from the movement to Marxism. This shift isolated many people who had previously been recognized with the movement. Moreover, Baraka and other people from the movement had achieved economic and culture recognition success as they started being celebrated by the white people (Kimberley). The movement also left behind multiple stirring and timeless pieces of theater, poetry, and literature. Incongruously, despite the movement being dominated by male, other black female artist emerged such as Ntoake, June Jordan and many others. The Black Arts Movement assisted to lay a strong foundation for the current-day hip-hop and spoken word.

Importance of the Black Arts Movement to Literature

The Black Art Movement pieces influenced literature in many forms due to the introduction of other types of rhythms that did not exist. Some of their importance include; some of the terminologies used at least impaired or created rifts within the African American literary community. Secondly, the artists from the movement pronounced words in another form, this adds more pronunciation of words in literature (Abrams, Meyer & Geoffrey). Mostly this was in poetry and songs whereby some words had to be exaggerated so that they could rhyme. Thirdly, there were other forms of poems and songs that were introduced during the movement. The artist brought new forms of pieces that are used to date, they made the literature work to be broad and have new components. Finally, most of the pieces of art created by the black people from the movement were sweet, they added favor to literature.

Works Cited

Abrams, Meyer Howard, and Geoffrey Harpham. A glossary of literary terms. Cengage Learning, 2011. Retrieved from https://books.google.co.ke/books?hl=en&lr=&id=vTAJAAAAQBAJ&oi=fnd&pg=PP5&dq=Importance+of+the+Black+Arts+Movement+to+Literature&ots=uPH3BPAWQ7&sig=FAxR2uEoFV04ZdwKupCj8WLEdfg&redir_esc=y#v=onepage&q=Importance%20of%20the%20Black%20Arts%20Movement%20to%20Literature&f=false

Anadolu-Okur, Nilgun. Contemporary African American Theater: Afrocentricity in the Works of Larry Neal, Amiri Baraka, and Charles Fuller. Routledge, 2013. Retrieved from https://www.taylorfrancis.com/books/9780203462607

Benston, Kimberley W. Performing Blackness: Enactments of African-American Modernism. Routledge, 2013. Retrieved from https://www.taylorfrancis.com/books/9780203388303