The Groundbreaking Movement. What Did An International

The Black Arts movement refers to a period of “furious flowering” of African American creativity beginning in the mid-1960’s and continuing through much of the 1970’s (Perceptions of Black). Linked both chronologically and ideologically with the Black Power Movement, The BAM recognized the idea of two cultural Americas: one black and one white. The BAM pressed for the creation of a distinctive Black Aesthetic in which black artists created for black audiences. The movement saw artistic production as the key to revising Black American’s perceptions of themselves, thus the Black Aesthetic was believed to be an integral component of the economic, political, and cultural empowerment of the Black

A girl by the name of Linda Brown. Just as any school girl, loved being with her friends, and she loved her family. However, Linda’s black skin color restricted her from attending a school that was a few yards away, and forced her to walk miles to the nearest all black school. In outrage, the family fought for their daughter to attend a local white school. Why would she not be allowed to attend a school so close to home? The question became strong enough to begin a movement that would impact the nation.

Lorraine Hansberry was born May 19th, 1930, in Chicago, Illinois. She was the youngest of seven children, and was the granddaughter of a slave. Her mother was a school teacher, and her father was a real estate broker. In 1938, her family moved to an all-white neighborhood and were victims of racist crimes and violence. They refused to move until the Supreme Court ruled in favor of Lee in the Hansberry v. Lee case. With the judge ruling in favor of Lee, who sued so that no African- Americans could live in their neighborhood, the Hansberry’s were forced to move. Hansberry, unlike her parents who went to southern, all black universities, attended the University of Wisconsin. She dropped out two years later after changing her major from fine art to writing and moved to New York where she attended the New School for Social Research. She then worked for the Freedom newspaper as a writer and associate editor from 1950 to 1953. Between the Freedom newspaper and working as a waitress she wrote in her free time. She decided she liked writing

The intersection of social movements and Art is one that can be observed throughout the civil right movements of America in the 1960’s and early 1970’s. The sixties in America saw a substantial cultural and social change through activism against the Vietnam war, women’s right and against the segregation of the African - American communities. Art became a prominent method of activism to advocate the civil rights movement. It was a way to express self-identity as well as the struggle that people went through and by means of visual imagery a way to show political ideals and forms of resistance. To examine how a specific movement can have a profound effects on the visual art, this essay will focus on the black art movement of the 1960s and

In the 1920s the expanding culture of African Americans was wildly represented by the Harlem Renaissance. It happened after the Great Migration, when they started to develop new styles of literature, art, and music (doc. 6,7). The 1920s were called the “Jazz Age” because musicians recombined blues, European- based music, and ragtime. The Harlem Renaissance changed the way African Americans were looked at by other people in the U.S. and how they lived. It did this by giving them the chance to overcome the things they had gone through in the past. The Harlem Renaissance also allowed them to express how they feeled and show their talents.

The Harlem Renaissance was a period that started in the early 1920’s in which the concept of “the Negro” was intended to be changed (History.com). This period witnessed the thrive of African American art. White stereotypes had influenced not only the way African Americans were perceived in society but also their relationship between themselves and others. Participants like Gwendolyn Bennett, Langston Hughes, Paul Lawrence Dunbar and W.E.B. Du Bois were some of many authors of creative pieces that reflected their points of views. Like George Hutchinson writes in his article, The Harlem Renaissance brought many African Americans from South to North which helped the rise of literacy and the creation of organizations dedicated to promoting African American civil rights that resulted in the uplift of the race and the availability of socioeconomic opportunities (1). The distinctive expression through things like poetry and music during the Harlem Renaissance reflected the reality and experiences black people were going through. This essay is going to focus on the relationship between poetry, politics and representation while relying on the poem “We Wear the Mark” by Paul Lawrence Dunbar. At the same time, this paper will be supported with works from Langston Hughes, Alain Locke and W.E.B. Dubois.

Every morning, she had to walk 21 blocks to her all-black elementary school. (“Making History…” 1) This was already unfair since there was a better all white elementary school only 7 blocks away. This was because of Plessy v. Ferguson, a case from decades earlier, which made ‘separate but equal’ facilities legal. This allowed white Americans to discriminate, using the better schools, restaurants and even bathrooms. Most funding went to white people since there was very little black representation in the government. Not only was Linda unable to go to the closer school, yet the all-black school was much worse than the all-white school. Many school districts neglected their all-black schools, disobeying the Plessy v. Ferguson case of ‘separate but equal’. One case was especially unfair in Clarendon, South Carolina. Joseph De Laine Jr.’s school had “...10 teachers, almost 800 kids, and no indoor plumbing.” (“Making History…”1) Oliver Brown, Linda Brown’s dad, asked if his daughter could enroll in the closer all-white school since his daughter was walking so far to a worse school than the one near by. The principal refused and soon after, Brown ended up suing. (“Making History…”1) The case eventually ended up in Supreme court among many other controversial lawsuits in the country. This was a very important moment for minorities around the country as they had endured decades of unfair education. A black man was standing up made many people happy- and many people unhappy,

Born on February 20, 1942 in Topeka Kansas Linda Brown made history at a young age, education was a struggle for her family. Living as an African American during the time period of segregation was atrocious. Young Linda Brown was forced to walk one mile, cross railroad tracks and having to take a bus to get to school that was meant for “African Americans”(#2). Although there was “all whites” school just merely blocks away. Her parents Oliver L. Brown and his wife had three daughters Linda was

Lorraine Hansberry was born in Chicago on May 19, 1930, the youngest of four children. Her parents were well-educated, successful black citizens who publicly fought discrimination against black people. When Hansberry was a child, she and her family lived in a black neighborhood on Chicago’s South Side. During this era, segregation—the enforced separation of whites and blacks—was still legal and widespread throughout the South. Northern states, including Hansberry’s own Illinois, had no official policy of segregation, but they were generally self-segregated along racial and economic lines. Chicago was a striking example of a city carved into strictly divided black and white neighborhoods. Hansberry’s family became one of the first to move into

The 1920’s was a great time for African American pride in their culture though High Art or Folk Art. Folk Art during the Harlem Renaissance best expresses Racial Pride through celebrated black culture, celebrates black speech, and celebrates common man. High Art having lofty imagery, elevated language, and mastery of European poetic forms. First, Folk Art celebrates black culture because African Americans in 1920’s created The Blues, a type of genre of song that shows the struggle of African Americans in the 1920’s. For example, Langston Hughes in 1927 wrote “Homesick Blues” and “Po’ Boy Blues” showing that moving north was a struggle, how they wanted to go home, and how poor they were.

Throughout American history, segregation was a problem for African- Americans for several years, but eventually, enough was enough. Linda Brown, daughter of Oliver Brown, realized she had dealt with unreasonable forbiddance and that she was not able to attend school with people of all color. Brown v. Board of Education made people come to a conclusion that nobody should be segregated. With Jim Crow laws, Plessy v. Ferguson, and countless other things that separated blacks from whites, they were unable to do the same way as people of any other color; Linda Brown’s case was taken to court and the law was passed that segregation would no longer be lawful, but it took a long period of time before the law was acknowledged and abided in the South and ended things majorly.

W.E.B Du Bois’s “Criteria of Negro Art” doubles down on Du Bois’s idea that all African American art should be a form of propaganda, while Langston Hughes essay focuses on a speaker who neglects his blackness as it was seen as unnecessary to make it in white America.

“The Harlem Renaissance was a time where the Afro-American came of age; he became self-assertive and racially conscious… he proclaimed himself to be a man and deserving respect. Those Afro-Americans who were part of that time period saw themselves as principals in that moment of transformation from old to new” (Huggins 3). African Americans migrated to the North in great numbers to seek better lives than in the South as the northern economy was booming and industrial jobs were numerous. This movement brought new ideas and talents that shifted the culture forever. Black writers, such as Langston Hughes, used their work to claim a place for themselves and to demand self-respect in society. Poems that Langston Hughes wrote captured the essence of the complexity of a life that mixes joy and frustration of black American life through the incorporation of jazz and blues in order to examine the paradox of being black in mostly white America, the land of the not quite free.

“Seems like God don’t see fit to give the black man nothing but dreams – but He did give us children to make the dreams seem worthwhile,” once stated by Lorraine Hansberry. Racial segregation has been a huge topic in our society. Believe it or not, just a few decades ago African American people did not have the basic equality rights that white citizens were given. Something as simple as having a dream to become an author seemed out of reach; even impossible some might have said. Living in this kind of a world was unfortunately a reality for Lorraine Hansberry. Growing up she lived in a world of racial segregation and not being giving the same opportunities as fellow white citizens in the United States. Throughout her life civil rights was a major influence for her. Hansberry was able to express the unwavering need for civil rights through her literature. Her poems and plays showed the unjust treatment of African Americans. She was able to make a difference in her own life, as well as the lives of her audience through her portrayal of pre-civil rights.

The role of African American literature in recent years has been to illuminate for the modern world the sophistication and beauty inherent in their culture as well as the constant struggle they experience in the oppressive American system. When writers such as Langston Hughes, W.E.B. DuBois and Alice Walker present their material, they manage to convey to a future world the great depth of feeling and meaning their particular culture retained as compared with the culture of their white counterparts. Without this attempt at preservation, much of the richness of this community might have been lost or forgotten. At the same time, they illuminated some of the problems inherent within their society, including lack of education, lack of