Black Arts Movement

We want a black poem. Anda Black World.Let the world be a Black Poem

From “Black Art” by LeRoi Jones (Amiri Baraka)

• 1960’s & 70’s• Included poets, writers,

performers, artists• Confronted white power

structures• Asserted African American

cultural identity• Community-centered• Organized throughout the U.S.

Amiri Baraka(LeRoi Jones)(1934-2014)Black Arts Repertory Theatre/School in Harlem

Nikki Giovanni(born 1943)

Jay Wright(born 1935)

Larry Neal (1937-1981)

Sonia Sanchez (b. 1934)

6 haiku by Sonia Sanchez(for Elizabeth Catlettin Cuernavaca)

1.La Señoramaking us rememberflesh and wind

2.O how youhelp us catcheach other’s breath

3.a woman’sarms climbing withcolored dreams

4.Elizabethslides into the poolhands kissing the water

5.i pickup your breath andremember me

6.your handshumming hurricanesof beauty.

Nikki Giovanni

Jay Wright

Amiri Baraka