Wait a second!
More handpicked essays just for you.
More handpicked essays just for you.
Black arts movement summary
Black arts movement summary
Black arts movement essay
Don’t take our word for it - see why 10 million students trust us with their essay needs.
The Black Arts Movement proved to be a very pivotal, and much needed moment in African-American literature to disrupt a past tradition of humble, prim, “decorous ambassadors” African-American novelist have been categorized as (Wright 1403). During the movement a shift occurred in the perspectives and understanding of African-American novelists and poets. The conscience of the those in literature seemed to have been awakened as they became aware of their social responsibility and influence in the African-American community. The range of the views held by those of the Black Arts Movement varied significantly from the social function of African-American art to a more narrow perspective of what it means to be a black individual and or writer. A great deal of the work created at this time was very opinionated and designed to empower and uplift African-Americans. The movement holds a tremendous effect and influence on writers that have come in the later part of the on-going insurgence. The themes, concepts, and social questions that the Black Arts Movement artists had influenced a new generation of writers who extended and related to the Black Aesthetic in more contemporary times. Conscientious novelists now write with the purpose to communicate the definition of blackness and the variety of the “Black Experience” correlating with writers of the movement. Natasha Tretheway‘s poem “Help 1968” is one that was subsequently influenced by the logic and perspectives of the movement. Artist and works of the Black Arts Movement made a significant impact on not only the American literary world, but future African-Americans and African-American writers. The early Black Arts Movement artist created a sudden shift within literature, deviating fro... ... middle of paper ... ...munity. Works Cited Baraka, Amiri. "The Revolutionary Theatre." The Norton Anthology of African American Literature. Ed. Henry L. Gates, Jr. and Nellie Y. McKay. Second ed. New York: Norton, 1969. 1960-63. Print. The Diane Rehm Show." U.S. Poet Laureate Natasha Trethewey. N.p., 23 Jan. 2013. Web. 28 Mar. 2014. Wright, Richard. "Blueprint For Negro Writing." The Norton Anthology of African American Literature. Ed. Henry L. Gates, Jr. and Nellie Y. McKay. Second ed. New York: Norton, 1937. 1403-10. Print. Tretheway, Natasha. "Why I Write: Natasha Tretheway on Poetry, History, and Social Justice." Interview. Youtube.com. Emory University, 15 Feb. 2010. Web. 28 Mar. 2014. Fuller, Hoyt. “Towards a Black Aesthetic.” The Norton Anthology of African American Literature. Ed. Henry L. Gates, Jr. and Nellie Y. McKay. Second ed. New York: Norton, 1968. 1853-59. Print
The Norton Introduction to Literature. Ed. Kelly J. Mays. New York: Norton, 2013. 1471 - 1534 -.
Roberts, Edgar V., Jacobs, Henry E. “Literature.” The Lesson. 470-475. Toni Cade Bambara. New Jersey: Prentice-Hall. 2001
Bibliography:.. Works Cited Meyer, M., Ed., (1999). Bedford Introduction to Literature, 5th Ed. Boston: Bedford/St. Martin.
Baym, Nina, and Robert S. Levine. The Norton Anthology of American Literature. 7th ed. New York: W. W. Norton & Company, 2007. 348-350. Print.
...n American Literature. By Henry Louis. Gates and Nellie Y. McKay. 2nd ed. New York: W.W. Norton &, 2004. 387-452. Print.
2nd ed. of the book. New York: St. James Press, 1995. Literature Resource Center -. Web.
It is important to not that the direction of Brooks’s literary career shifted dramatically in the late 1960’s. While attending a black writers’ conference she was struck by the passion of the young poets. Before this happened, she had regarded herself as essentially a universalist, who happened to be black. After the conference, she shifted from writing about her poems about black people and life to writing for the black population.
Harmon, William, and C. Hugh Holman. A Handbook to Literature. 8th ed. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall, 1999.
Baym, Nina, and Robert S. Levine, eds. The Norton Anthology: American Literature. 8th ed. New York: W.W. Norton & Company, Inc., 2012. Print.
Shortly after Rachel was written in 1916, the New Negro Movement began to gain traction in the African American community. This broad cultural movement focused on promoting a public image of African Americans as industrious, urban, independent, and distinct from the subservient and illiterate “Old Negro” of the rural South. Unlike his predecessor, the New Negro was self-sufficient, intellectually sophisticated, creative, knowledgeable and proud of his racial heritage (Krasner, Beautiful Pageant 140). While these concepts had been promoted since the turn of the century, it was not until 1917-1918 that they began to crystalize as a concerted effort among African American intellectuals. These men actively supported the creation of black drama because they recognized that “At a time when African Americans had virtually no political recourse, their voice could best be heard through…a creative and humanistic effort to achieve the goal of civil rights by producing positive images of African Americans and promoting activism through art” (“New Negro Movement” 926). The New Negros therefore shared the same overall goal as black intellectuals such as DuBois, but believed that black artists should focus on presenting the reality and beauty of the “black human experience” instead of an idealized vision of what life should be. Ultimately, the transition from “political” art to that which held creativity in high esteem was complex and divisive. Fortunately, just as Dubois emerged as the primary advocate of the former Political Theatre, so too would Alain Locke help guide the New Negros to support the idea of Art Theatre.
Abrams, M.H. and Greenblatt, Stephen eds. The Norton Anthology of English Literature: Seventh Edition. New York: W.W. Norton & Company, Inc., 2001.
Over the course of the century chronicling the helm of slavery, the emancipation, and the push for civil, equal, and human rights, black literary scholars have pressed to have their voice heard in the midst a country that would dare classify a black as a second class citizen. Often, literary modes of communication were employed to accomplish just that. Black scholars used the often little education they received to produce a body of works that would seek to beckon the cause of freedom and help blacks tarry through the cruelties, inadequacies, and inconveniences of their oppressed condition. To capture the black experience in America was one of the sole aims of black literature. However, we as scholars of these bodies of works today are often unsure as to whether or not we can indeed coin the phrase “Black Literature” or, in this case, “Black poetry”. Is there such a thing? If so, how do we define the term, and what body of writing can we use to determine the validity of the definition. Such is the aim of this essay because we can indeed call a poem “Black”. We can define “Black poetry” as a body of writing written by an African-American in the United States that formulates a concentrated imaginative awareness of an experience or set of experiences inextricably linked to black people, characterizes a furious call or pursuit of freedom, and attempts to capture the black condition in a language chosen and arranged to create a specific emotional response through meaning, sound, and rhythm. An examination of several works of poetry by various Black scholars should suffice to prove that the definition does hold and that “Black Poetry” is a term that we can use.
Shorter 8th ed. of the book. New York: Norton, 2013. Print. The.
Harmon, William, and C. Hugh Holman. A Handbook to Literature. 8th ed. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall, 1999.
Updike, John. “A&P.” The Norton Introduction to Literature. 10th ed. Eds. Alison Booth and Kelly J. Mays. New York: Norton, 2010. 409-414. Print.