Black Arts Movement

Catalog description

This course is an introduction to the Black Arts Movement of the 1960s and 1970s, a racially-specific artistic period created by African-American artists, writers, and musicians who were committed to creating politically and socially conscious art. The course contextualizes the movement by examining the revolutionary movements from which the Black Arts Movement sprang, and fostered, during this important era in American history. The contributions of intellectual thinkers and artists such as Malcolm X, Amiri Baraka, Maya Angelou, and Nikki Giovanni will be examined. The course also examines how the Black Arts Movement influences contemporary intellectual thinkers and artists by asking what role, if any, does the ‘political’ play in artistic creation?