Black Arts Movement

The Black Arts Movement was the artistic/cultural branch of the Black Power
Movement.
The assassination of Malcolm X (February 1965) propelled many Black
artists/writers to begin the Black Arts Movement.
The BAM was started by writer/activist Amiri Baraka (born Everett LeRoi Jones)
in Harlem New York, NY.
What instances in the reading are race/prejudices are shown?
Dutchman Thesis
In LeRoi Jones/Amiri Baraka’s play, Dutchman, the characters, Clay and Lula,
portray the themes of racism, violence/cruelty, and sexism by illustrating the
experiences of the Black Arts Movement.
Born Everett LeRoi Jones (Oct. 7, 1934) in Newark, New Jersey
He wanted to become a minister; at the time they were the most respected in the
black community
He received a B.A. degree in English at Howard University in 1954
In 1965, LeRoi divorced his wife (Hetti Roberta Cohen) and married a black
womanin 1967
At this time he changed his name from LeRoi Jones to Imamu Amiri Baraka
Often called “the father of the ‘6Os Black Arts Movement”
Believed the war black people were involved in was for self determination
Wanted 3 things out of the BAM:
1. Express black lives
2. Express black history
3. To show self determination from the black people
Dutchman by LeRoi Jones/ Amiri Baraka
The play, Dutchman, became revolutionary in the eyes of the white Americans
The play liberates struggles for the black audience, which brought fear to the
white people
The Dutchman shows a mental struggle of an African American trying to become
a man in America.
Dutchman Continued
To become a man in America, you must be your own true identity
Many men lack this trait
The African-American cannot be like the white American because of race issues
It is very difficult for African-Americans to be become a man in America
Lula
She seeks out her victims, preferably African-Americans
A white woman lures the Black men by a myth of purity, which leads to
destruction
She represents manipulative white women who control the world through lies and
deceit.
Clay
An African-American and victim of Lula
Lula says he is just a “dirty” white man
He surrenders his black identity
He believes wearing white men’s clothes will make him civil, but this is false.

Race and Racism

Clay is African American while Lula is a white American
Lula hates Clay; he is a “type” she has seen often
In Baraka’s view, the solution to racism is assimilation to the white
American’s values and cultures
Lula hates Clay because he is a black, AND because he tries to assimilate
to the white culture and disregard his own racial heritage
Clay aspires to be white when he is not
Clay is a representative of the form of assimilation practiced by many of the black
middle class
pursuit of white values and culture through “white” education.
Clay carries a stack of books, and he wears the garb of the well-educated.
Lula seems to hate Clay on sight, explaining that he is a “type” she has seen
often.
She infers that he has a black friend with a “phony English accent.” Clay, she
tells him, looks like he is trying to grow a beard and has “been reading Chinese
poetry and drinking lukewarm sugarless tea.”
Lula hates Clay not just because he is black, but because of his obvious attempts
to discard his racial heritage.
She berates him for his meek acceptance of assimilation as a desirable goal,
saying, “Boy, those narrow-shoulder clothes come from a tradition you ought to
feel oppressed by.” When she taunts him that his grandfather was a slave who
did not go to Harvard, he responds lamely that his grandfather was a night
watchman.
In other words, he tries desperately to distance himself from his slave heritage,
even at the cost of remembering that he is black.
As he states, he was the one student at a “colored college” whose role model
was not Averell Harriman (a white American statesman) but Charles-Pierre
Baudelaire, a white (French) poet.
Clay wants to distinguish himself, but he limits himself to a superficial shift,
choosing art over politics.
Clay also fails to recognize the irony that he is as deluded as the other students
at the black college, who aspire not to be black leaders but white ones.
It is left to Lula to clarify that he would have to be the black Baudelaire, and she
chides him “I’ll bet you never once thought you were a black nigger.” Clay’s
pretension is not about becoming an educated black; he actually seems to aspire
to be white — or at least to so steep himself in white intellectualism that his color
will not matter.
Lula reminds him that he is black, and, when she calls him a murderer, it is
apparent that it is his black self that he murders.
Violence and Cruelty
Lula antagonizes Clay because he is a black American trying to be a white
American
When he finally makes a stance against Lula’s violent language/cruel
reminders of his status in society, Clay reaches manhood; but he is killed
Clay’s death is symbolic of the violence of white oppression

Clay steadfastly seeks to maintain his composure in the face of Lula’s violent
language and cruel reminders of his lowly status in society.
The question becomes, how much cruelty will Clay tolerate before he stands up
for himself, for the manhood Lula questions?
The dramatic irony and symbolic tragedy of the play occurs in its final violence,
when Lula stabs a knife into Clay as he reaches for his books to leave her. It is
dramatic irony in the sense that he has finally made a stance and shown his
manhood, but he fails to recognize that Lula intended all along to destroy him
utterly.
His tragic ending is symbolic of the violence of white oppression, which regularly
murders blacks in both a figurative as well as literal sense.
In Baraka’s value system, Clay deserves this violence for not using a more direct,
and violent, means of bettering his life and silencing the likes of Lula.
Sexism
Like Eve, Lula eats apples and offers a temptation
She challenges Clay’s “manhood” because he is a black man trying to
aspire to the white American
Baraka’s idea of Lula is the temptation to pervert black artistry to fit the
hollow criteria of white art
Lula is a mythical, evil Eve, enticing Clay (Adam, who was made of clay) with
sexual wiles and murderous intent. Like Eve, she eats and offers apples.
In fact, she offers Clay so much of the fruit that he cannot eat any more.
She figuratively emasculates Clay, repeatedly challenging his “manhood” with
verbal jibes; she then physically destroys him and throws his body off of the train.
She tempts Clay with sexual promise, murders him dispassionately with a quick
stab, and then prepares herself for her next victim.
She is actually bored by the endless cycle of her role; she has “a gray hair for
each year and type” of man she’s gone through. Lula belongs to the sisterhood of
“Crow Jane,” or “Mama Death,” Baraka’s idea of the siren muse who lures black
artists to pervert their black artistry to fit the hollow, sterile criteria of white art.

Connection to BAM

Each theme used throughout the play has a direct connection to the society
during BAM
It depicts the struggle Black men have with killing their own heritage and black
values to be accept into white society
Baraka uses the example of the suit
After reading Dutchman, what is your take on the Black Arts Movement?

Black Aesthetic

"Black Aesthetic" is the promotion of black culture and the cultural revolution in
art and ideas
It is issuing art to stabilize black culture
The black aesthetic promotes a change of values where black art is not seen
lesser for western aesthetic
It wants a creation of new history, symbols, myths and legends.
It consists of an African American cultural tradition and individualism in Black
artists' work
This term was used to benchmark the purpose of a Black Movement, created by
intellectuals collaborating on how to change the view of black art within black
society

Black Power Movement

The phrase "black power" was first used as a political slogan in 1966 by
Stockley, a leader of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC)
The movement expanded in the 1960 as a result of the dissatisfaction of some
black peoples and the progress of the civil rights movement
The Black Power Movement was in effort among Black Americans to gain control
of the institutions that affect their daily lives by acquiring independent economic,
social, and political power
It was associated with a militant advocacy of armed self defense, separation from
"racist American domination"
Held pride in the assertion of the goodness and beauty of blackness

Relationship between BAM and BPM

BAM is opposed to the artist who alienates himself from his community
Black arts and black power are spiritual sisters speaking to the needs of Black
America
They relate broadly to African American desire for self determination and
nationhood.
The was generally shared concept of African American liberation and the rights
of African Americans to determine their own destiny
There was usually some common notion of the development or recovery of an
authentic national black culture that was linked to an existing African American
folk or popular culture

Black Reparatory Theater/School

Opened in 1964 by LeRoi Jones and other artists

Began a series of poetry readings and concerts
When attacked by white authorities, it moved its programs into the streets of
Harlem
The theatre presented plays, concerts, and poetry readings to the people of the
community
It helped further increase black artists’ creativity

Revolutionary theater

Purpose was to change people’s perspective toward Afro-American culture

The theatre of white America is wrong because it refuses to confront concrete
reality
The white theatre is a reflection of American society; it is escapist
Their use of Negroes only creates hipper versions of stale shows

Relation to Past Literature

Romanticism

The black artists of the BAM began making their own poetry and art rather than
conforming to the white Americans

The creativity of the BAM artists came from the expression of their emotions and
culture to create their own works of art

Naturalism
Although black artists became non-conforming and creative, they were
sometimes attacked physically and psychologically by white Americans

They were pushed down by people who thought the BAM and its creativity were
bad

Influential Paintings/Poems

The purpose of black art was to depict black identity

It creates self determination among the black community

Polarization by Claude Clark, Sr.

 Presents African American life in opposition to white America

 Symbolizes the socio-political struggle of African Americans
 The American flag is placed on the side of the black man, indicating the
eventual victory over white America

“Aunt Jemima and the Pillsbury Doughboy” Jeff Donaldson

• Portrays the confrontation between popular media
• Aunt Jemima was a brand of easy to make food that is still around today
• The Pillsbury doughboy also is a brand from easy make foods
• In the painting the artist uses Aunt Jemima and the Pillsbury Doughboy to
represent the oppressiveness of the white community
• The Pillsbury Doughboy is seen as a product of all America where as Aunt
Jemima is not as high in expectations
• The painting shows the Aunt Jemima will not back down and will fight

For Black Poets who think of Suicide

Written by African-American poet, Etheridge Knight

According to the poem, Knight believes African Americans should live their lives
free, without anyone’s specific approval

“Let all black people die as trumpets.”

The black people should live their lives outspoken and free
No longer must they adhere to any specific group, like the white American
audience

Themes

Black poems promoting a look at heritage and traditions

Sonia Sanchez “A Poem for Us”

“Poem for Black Boys”

Poems looking for action and liberation

“Poem No.2”

Bitter Black Bitterness

Black Bitter Bitterness
Bitterness Black Brothers
Bitter get Black
Blacker Get Bitter
Get Black Bitterness
NOW

“Of Liberation”

The most vital commodity in America

Is Black People
If 10% honkies can run South Africa then

10% Black people (which has nothing to do with negroes)

“The last bastion of white supremacy is in the Black man’s mind”

Sonia Sanchez “Poem”