The Black Arts Movement was a Black nationalism movement made up of Black artists and

intellectuals who focused on music, literature, drama, and the visual arts. In that its participants
shared many of the concepts of self-determination, political convictions, and African American
culture, this was the cultural element of the Black Power movement. The poet Imamu Amiri Baraka
is widely considered to be the father of the Black Arts Movement, which began in 1965 and ended in
1975. The Black Arts Movement was formally established in 1965 when Baraka opened the Black
Arts Repertory Theater in Harlem. The movement had its greatest impact in theater and poetry.
Although it began in the New York/Newark area, it soon spread to Chicago, Illinois, Detroit,
Michigan, and San Francisco, California. The assassinations of Malcolm X, Martin Luther King, and
Patrick Lumumba, as well as the politicisation of black students, as well as the Watts rebellion in
1965, provided radical black arts and politics with unparalleled chances. Despite civil rights
achievements, there was ongoing oppression, which resulted in recurrent uprisings. In the early
1970s, the movement reached its pinnacle, creating some of the most avant-garde music, art,
drama, and poetry. Many artists affiliated with the movement used the visual arts to address themes
of black identity and emancipation.

Amiri Baraka was born Everett LeRoi Jones in 1934 in Newark, New Jersey. He is a poet, writer,
teacher, and political activist. His topics vary from black emancipation to white racism, and his career
spanned nearly 52 years. "The Music: Reflections on Jazz and Blues," "The Book of Monk," and "New
Music, New Poetry" are some of his most well-known poems, with themes drawn from society,
music, and literature.

In the poem Ka`Ba, the poets talks about the ongoing issues of black people."A

closed window looks down on a dirty courtyard, and black people call across or

scream or walk across defying physics in the stream of their will.." In this stanza he

talks about how black people are often forced to do things against their will, taken

advantage of , and live in poverty. A "closed window" and "dirty courtyard"

implies that sense of imprisonment , like there is no way of getting out.The

"scream or walk across defying physics in the stream of their will" infers that

people need to face what is holding them back and defy what everyone else says

because it is what we want. Which is to break free from bondage, poverty,and

sadness and live our lives in happiness."Our world is full of sound/Our world is

more lovely than anyone`s/ tho we suffer, and kill each other/and sometimes fail to

walk the air." This means that our lives are full of music, joy, love and happiness
yet, we still suffer from all the pain and hardships we endured."Our

world" meaning Africa is one of the most beautiful places on earth, yet we hate

ourselves, hate our people, hate each other eventually resulting in destruction."We

are beautiful people with african imaginations/full of masks and dances and

swelling chants/with african eyes, and noses, and arms,/though we sprawl in grey

chains in a place/full of winters, when what we want is sun." In this stanza the poet

is saying that black people as a whole are beautiful, but we fail to realize that. We

come from a beautiful African culture that involves music, costumes, masks, and

dancing."We have been captured,/brothers. And we labor/to make our getaway,

into/the ancient image, into a new/correspondence with ourselves/and our black

family. We read magic/now we need the spells, to rise up/return, destroy, and

create. What will be/the sacred words?"We were were captured like animals and

taken to a cold winter place ,but we really wanted to be home in the warm sunny

land of Africa. We worked and did hard labor to escape ,but that image of home

never became reality. The poet goes on to say that we need to come together, we

need God, we need miracles, and us as a whole needs to rise up to return back

home.