Black Arts MovementAshley DomingoJustin Martinez

Leinalyn ReduquePeriod 1

Definition of the Movement• Began around approximately 1965

• Emphasized racial pride and presented works that were committed to the reflection of African American culture and experiences of black people

• Emerged during the Civil Rights Movement which eventually led to what was known as the “Black Power Movement”

• Often politically based with an aggressive style/tone

• Challenged the white establishment

• Started in Harlem by Amiri Bakara

Poetic Techniques and Themes• Personification

• Tone

• Repetition

• Imagery

• Symbolism

• Assonance

• Metaphor

• Diction

• Narrative Instability

• Theme: Breaking away from racial inequality

Gwendolyn Brooks• Born in Topeka, Kansas in 1917 and raised in Chicago

• Brooks first attended Hyde Park High School, transferred

to Wendell Phillips High, and lastly Englewood High

School

• Father is David Anderson Brooks; Janitor

• Mother is Keziah Wilms Brooks; Schoolteacher

• Well known for her intimate literary works that revolve

around the struggles of racism and poverty of African

American life

• Received Literary Awardso First African American writer to win a Pulitzer Prizeo Jefferson Lecture o Medal of Distinguished Contribution to American

letters

Notable Works

• A Street in Bronzeville (1945)

• Annie Allen (1949)

• Maud Martha (1953)

• The Bean Eaters (1960)

• In the Mecca (1968)

Literary Devices

• Repetition: "We"

• Assonance: Cool and school, late and straight, sin and gin, or June and soon

• Irony: Title is "We Real Cool" but the message of the poem is different from what is expected

• Tone: Hopeless

• Theme: Freedom from education leads to an unhappy ending

Sonia Sanchez

Biography• Born on September 9, 1934 in Birmingham, Alabama

• In 1955, she earned a B.A. in political science at Hunter College

• She formed the “Broadside Quartet” of young poets in Greenwich Village

• In the early 1960s, she was a great supporter of racial equality among black people, but later focused on her black culture

• In 1965, she was a teacher at San Francisco State University

• In 1969, she published her first book of poetry called Homecoming

• Not only did she write poetry, but she also wrote children books and plays

• In 1971, she joined the Nation of Islam, but later left because of the restraint of women

• Some literary achievements include the Outstanding Arts Award, the Peace and Freedom Award, and a National Endowment for the Arts Award

Notable Works

• Homecoming (1969)

• A Blues Book for Blue Black Magicial Women (1973)

• We a BaddDDD People (1970)

• I’m Blue When I Ain’t (1982)

• The Bronx is Next (1970)

Literary Devices

• Tone: Passionate & Loving

• Metaphor: "the rain exploding in the air is love," "the grass excreting her green wax is love," and "stones remembering past steps is love"

• Personification: "rain exploding," "grass excreting," and "stones remembering"

• Repetition: "is love" in the second stanza

• Diction & Imagery: reveal/visualize the emotions you feel when you are in love

• Theme: Age plays a role in understanding the meaning of love o During the Black Arts Movement, poets wrote

narrative stories such as the Ballad which inspired writers to write outside of their culture

Amiri Baraka• Born into the name Everett LeRoi Jones in Newark, New Jersey on October

7, 1934

• Father is Colt LeRoi Jones; a postal supervisor

• Mother is Anna Lois Jones; a social worker

• Attended Rutgers University; 2 years

o Transferred to Howard University; earned B.A. in English in 1954

• Served in the Air force from 1954-1957

• Moved to Lower East Side of Manhatten

o Joined loose circle of Greenwich Village artists, musicians, and writers

• One year later, married Hettie Cohen

o Began co-editing the avant-garde literary magazine Yugen with her.

o Founded Totem Press

• Won Literary Prizes that included:

o Fellowships from the Guggenheim Foundation

o National Endowment for the Arts

o PEN/Faulkner Award

o Rockefeller Foundation Award for Drama

Notable Works

• Black Art (1969)

• It's Nation Time (1970)

• Spirit Reach (1972)

• Black Magic : Collected Poetry (1969)

Literary Devices

• Imagery: "Clasped hands"

• Tone: Hopelessness & Depression

• Repetition: Uses "And" repetitively

• Personification: "Ground envelopes me"

• Theme: Judgment from the Whites has damaged the

African Americans emotionally

Artworks

Confrontation

"Die" Faith Ringgold

AP Style Writing Prompt

• Read the Preface to a Twenty Volume Suicide Note poem carefully. Then write an essay in which you discuss the ways the author uses imagery, repetition, and personification to explain the theme of the poem.

• In Gwendolyn Brooks's "We Real Cool," analyze how she uses tone, assonance, and irony to create the theme of the poem.

Interactive Poetry LessonA closed window looks down

on a dirty courtyard, and Black people

call across or scream across or walk across

defying physics in the stream of their will.

Our world is full of sound

Our world is more lovely than anyone's

tho we suffer, and kill each other

and sometimes fail to walk the air.

We are beautiful people

With African imaginations

full of masks and dances and swelling chants

with African eyes, and noses, and arms

tho we sprawl in gray chains in a place

full of winters, when what we want is sun.

We have been captured,and we labor to make our getaway, intothe ancient image; into a new

Correspondence with ourselvesand our Black family. We need magicnow we need the spells, to raise upreturn, destroy,and create. What will be

the sacred word?

Ka'Ba

By: Amiri Baraka

Resources

• http://www.poets.org/viewmedia.php/prmMID/5647

• http://www.poets.org/viewmedia.php/prmMID/19520

• http://www.poets.org/poet.php/prmPID/276

• http://www.english.illinois.edu/maps/blackarts/historical.htm

• http://www.encyclopedia.com/topic/Black_aesthetic_movement.aspx

BLACK ARTS MOVEMENT

QUIZ TIME

Question 1

Who is this poet?

Answer

Amiri Baraka

Question 2

Approximately what period did this movement take place in?

Answer

1965

Question 3

Who was the first African American writer to win a Pulitzer Prize?

Answer

Gwendolyn Brooks

Question 4

Who earned a B.A. in political science?

Answer

Sonia Sanchez

Question 5

Name one of Sonia Sanchez's notable works.

Answer

Homecoming, A Blues Book for Black Magical Women, We a BaddDDD

People, I'm Blue When I Ain't, The Bronx is Next

Question 6

What University did Amiri transfer to?

Answer

Howard University

Question 7

What movement was happening when this movement emerged?

Answer

Civil Rights Movement

Question 8

Who is this writer?

Answer

Gwendolyn Brooks

Question 9

Sonia Sanchez wrote poetry, but what else did she write?

Answer

Childrens Books and Plays

Question 10

Who founded the Totem Press?

Answer

Amiri Baraka