Black Arts Movement

Monday October 17, 2011

Announcements
y Exam grades to be posted within 24 hours y Quiz dates altered posted on Blackboard
announcements and in updated syllabus: y Quiz 4 Monday 10/24 y Quiz 5 Monday 11/7 y Quiz 6 Wednesday 11/16 until 1 p.m. Wednesday

y Feminism is For Everybody online please read for y ALL Group C Play Analyses and ALL Group D
Creative Responses DUE Friday 10/21

y If Ive told you to email me - do it. ASAP.

Agenda
y BAM History y Amiri Baraka y BAM Today

What is BAM?
y Black Arts Movement (BAM)
y Artistic branch of the Black Power Movement y Developed in Harlem by Amiri Baraka y Black Theater Arts Repertory key institution

y BAM led to:

y Creation of African American Studies Programs y Led to establishment of black owned publishing houses,
magazines, etc. y Triggered by assassination of Malcolm X

More BAM History

y Civil Rights Movement vs. Black Power Movement
y Whats the difference?
y CRM, key figure: MLK, Jr. y BPM, key figure: Malcolm X

y Polarized blacks, black racism y Promoted self-defense and self-definition

y BAM becomes an artistic articulation of black liberation

y Archibald Motley, Jr. (artist) y Poetry most prominent

Amiri Baraka
y Formerly Leroi Jones y Writer of poetry, drama, fiction, essays and music
criticism

y Poetry as a weapon of action

y BLACK ART IS CHANGE, IT MUST FORCE CHANGE,
IT MUST BE CHANGE y Use of Black English, for black communities y Best known for his work Black Art.

Themes from Black Art

y What did you notice?
y Poetry as a weapon
y NOT A METAPHOR y How is the Black Power Movement reflected? y Politically engaged y Jazz aesthetic

y None of this is without controversy

Institutions of BAM
y Black Arts Repertory Theatre/School (BARTS)
y Established in 1965 y Took music, performance, art, and poetry out of academy
and into the streets y School of theory and practice

y UMBRA
y Black literary organization y Split between artists and activists

BAM Today
y BAM only lasted about 10 years y Set the precedent for utilizing art as activism in the
black community

y Today BAM seen in:

y Study of black diaspora y Integrating comedy, dance, cooking y Multiplicities of black identity, celebration of culture