The Black Arts Movement Analysis

During the 1960s, the Black Power Movement placed emphasis on sustaining Black Nationalism to retain cultural pride within Black people. As a result, they formed the Black Arts Movement, whose primary mission was to emphasize political awareness for the Black Aesthetic in America. This was to be achieved through various art forms such as theatre, literature, music, etc. The Black Arts Movement was formed when people began to witness disparities between the ideal “American Dream” and the “American Reality” by becoming aware that ethnicity, race, gender, and class, hindered their ability to achieve/reach the American Dream (Salaam, 1995; Taylor, 2011). For Blacks, the Black artists produced literature, poetry, and music and exposed white supremacy
Thomas, The Shadow World, (1978) examined the effects the Black Arts Movement had on Black artists and the intensified awareness of Black culture and politics on the community. The Black Arts Movement compelled its artists to produce art within the context of the community’s needs (Thomas, 1978). The artists of the time became the spokesmen for the people and convinced them to go back to their roots which strengthened their racial pride. In addition, this influenced people to become politically aware of their nation, which gravitated them towards accepting Black Nationalism. While the short lived Black Arts Movement prompted the Black community to become one, The Black Arts Repertory Theatre/School was instrumental in the success of the movement, because it roused people’s to acknowledge their self-worth as Black individuals in a white-dominated
It was made aware that black male artists felt threatened by the possible sexism Black women would write, due to their double-standard; black and female. (Taylor 2011). A statement from a prolific female writer, Barbara Christian, during that time period expressed that the movement “deeply neglected Black female writers.” Thus a common response to women participating in the Black Arts Movement from Black men, was that it was called to be a distraction and even said to weaken the movement (Taylor,