The Black Arts Movement

1
The Black Arts Movement
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The Black Arts Movement

• Contemporaneous with the 1960s Black Power
  Movement

3
The Black Arts Movement

• Contemporaneous with the 1960s Black Power
  Movement
• Key Figures Larry Neal, Amiri Baraka
  (Leroi Jones)

4
The Black Arts Movement

• Contemporaneous with the 1960s Black Power
  Movement
• Key Figures Larry Neal, Amiri Baraka
  (Leroi Jones)
• Rejected European Aesthetic Tradition

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The Black Arts Movement

• Black Arts Movement rejected European
  Aesthetic Tradition

European tradition Emphasis upon formal and
thematic unity and coherence Aristotles precepts
for great drama Emphasis upon heroic
individual Emphasis upon internal psychological
development Separation of Art from Politics and
History
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The Black Arts Movement

• Contemporaneous with the 1960s Black Power
  Movement
• Key Figures Larry Neal, Amiri Baraka
  (Leroi Jones)
• Rejected European Aesthetic Tradition
• Rejected values of Western Modernity

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The Black Arts Movement

• Black Arts Movement rejected values of
  Western Modernity

Western Modernity Emphasis upon individual, at
the expense of community Emphasis upon
individual, at the expense of family Emphasis
upon progress, as opposed to tradition Emphasis
upon conquest and destruction as opposed to
conservation and preservation Industrial
society as opposed to Agrarian society Theories
of Racial and Cultural superiority supported by
technological development Privileging of
Capitalism, as opposed to pre-capitalist economic
structures
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The Black Arts Movement

• Contemporaneous with the 1960s Black Power
  Movement
• Key Figures Larry Neal, Amiri Baraka
  (Leroi Jones)
• Rejected European Aesthetic Tradition
• Rejected values of Western Modernity

9
The Black Arts Movement

• Contemporaneous with the 1960s Black Power
  Movement
• Key Figures Larry Neal, Amiri Baraka
  (Leroi Jones)
• Rejected European Aesthetic Tradition
• Rejected values of Western Modernity
• Sought to recover traditional African art
  and culture

10
The Black Arts Movement

• Contemporaneous with the 1960s Black Power
  Movement
• Key Figures Larry Neal, Amiri Baraka
  (Leroi Jones)
• Rejected European Aesthetic Tradition
• Rejected values of Western Modernity
• Sought to recover traditional African art
  and culture
• Focused on Black Art for Black People

11
The Black Arts Movement

• Contemporaneous with the 1960s Black Power
  Movement
• Key Figures Larry Neal, Amiri Baraka
  (Leroi Jones)
• Rejected European Aesthetic Tradition
• Rejected values of Western Modernity
• Sought to recover traditional African art
  and culture
• Focused on Black Art for Black People
• Emphasized Community over Individual

12
The Black Arts Movement

• Contemporaneous with the 1960s Black Power
  Movement
• Key Figures Larry Neal, Amiri Baraka
  (Leroi Jones)
• Rejected European Aesthetic Tradition
• Rejected values of Western Modernity
• Sought to recover traditional African art
  and culture
• Focused on Black Art for Black People
• Emphasized Community over Individual
• Asserted the connection between Art and
  Politics