The Black Power Movement

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Sometimes referred to as “the artistic sister of the Black Power Movement” the Black Arts Movement (BAM) arose in the mid 1960’s to develop a poetic/artistic statement that not only provided a means of black existence in America, but also provided a “change of vision” in the perception of African American identity. Much like the New Negro Movement, the Black Arts Movement was a flourishing time of artistic exertion among African American musicians, poets, playwrights, writers, and visual artists who understood that their artistic production could be the key to revising stereotypes of African American subordinacy (Neal). Through looking at the enriching artworks by David Hammons, Jeff Donaldson, and Adrian Piper, it can be understood that the African American race strived for both racial equality and social change. Hammons, Donaldson, and Piper were unique artist who changed African American Art and captivated America through their exceptional styles of talent and artworks. While the artworks Spade (Power to the Spade) by David Hammons, Wives of Shango by Jeff Donaldson, and Adrian Piper’s advertisement in Village Voice share few commonalities such as similar subject matter, such as their strive for black power, and imagery, their differences in mediums, structural styles, and technique show differentiating aspects of each artworks physique.
Artists associated with the Black Arts Movement promoted the notion that art should serve the needs of the African American community, while challenging white hegemony and the oppression of African Americans (Wofford). Despite having similar, yet thoughtful views on black supremacy, much like that of authors from the New Negro Movement, the “Black Power Concept” of the Black Arts Movement had ...

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...Arts movement.

Works Cited

Neal, Larry. "Perceptions of Black." Virginia.edu. Web. 20 Mar. 2014. .
"Jeff Donaldson: Biography ." TheHistoryMakers. 23 Apr. 2001. Web. 20 Mar. 2014. .
Hogu, Barbara Jones. “The History, Philosophy and Aesthetics of AFRI-COBRA.” AFRI-COBRA III, n.p. Amherst, Mass.: University Art Gallery, University of Massachusetts at Amherst, 1973.

Bowles, John P. “‘Acting like a Man:’ Adrian Piper’s Mythic Being and Black Feminism in the 1970s.” Signs: Journal of Women in Culture and Society 32, no. 3 (Spring 2007): 621-47
Wofford, Tobias. Signifying Race in David Hammons’ Spade Series.” In L.A. Object & David Hammons Body Prints, edited by Connie Rogers Tilton and Lindsay Charlwood, 88-134. New York: Tilton Gallery, 2011

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