THE BLACK ARTS MOVEMENT

SPOKEN WORD

THE HISTORY OF SPOKEN WORD• African story telling

• Griots

• History passed down orally

• Poetry, music, song, dance, lessons, narratives

SPOKEN WORD IN THE BLACK ARTS MOVMEMENT

• 1965 - mid 1970s

• Riots, Murder of Malcolm X

• LeRoi Jones wrote in 1965 , “we want poems that kill”

• Political and artistic influences

• Attack and eliminate white mainstream literary sensibilities

• Radical performative speech and expression = literary power

• Precedence to vernacular poetry, the dramatic arts, and Hip-Hop

Jayne cortez• Born in Arizona, 1936

• Author of ten books of poems and has performed her poetry with music on 9 recordings

• 1954; Married Ornette Coleman

• 1964; Cofounded Watts Repertory Theater Program

• 1969; Pissstained Stairs and the Monkey Man’s Wares 1st Collection

• 1972: Bola Press

• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zcCHXSIFLfg

The last poetz• May 19, 1968, Marcus Garvey Park. East Harlem

• Jalal Mansur Nurridin, Umar Bin Hassan, Abiodun Oyewole, Nilaja Obabi

• 1970; self titled debut album

• Late 60s – early 70s, Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee, Students for a Democratic Society, Black Panther Party

• Social ills: poverty, racism, classicism toward African Americans

• This Is Madness (1971), jazzoetry

• Key releases: The Last Poets, This Is Madness, Chastisement.

Gil scott-heron• April 1, 1949, Chicago, Ill.

• Musical story telling: Poet, Writer, “Prophet” & Griot

• Jackson, Tennessee ‘til age 12

• NYC – Age 13 until death in May 2011

• The Fieldston school, full scholarship

• Black & Blues, Small Talk at 125 & Lenox, The Revolution Will Not Be Televised (1970)

• “Witty satires, not so funny reality”

• Whitey on the Moon

Nikki giovanni• “We write because we believe the human spirit

cannot be tamed and should not be trained”

• Black American, a daughter, a mother, a professor of English

• Born Yolande Cornelia Giovanni Jr, Knoxville, Tennessee

• Grad. Fisk University w/ Honors, 1967

• Published Black Feeling, Black Talk (1967), Black Judgment (1968)

• Poems “The True Import of Present Dialogue” and “The Great Pax White”

• “Ego Tripping”

THE END

Sources• Mphande, Lupenga. “African Oral Literature”. Oxford African American Studies Center. Africana: The Encyclopedia of the African and

African American Experience, Second Edition. Web. 23 Oct. 2012.

• Aiello, Thomas. “Black Arts Movement”. Oxford African American Studies Center. Encyclopedia of African American History, 1896 to the Present: From the Age of Segregation to the Twenty-first Century. Web. 23 Oct. 2012.

• Garret, Van. G. “Cortez, Jayne”. Oxford African American Studies Center. Encyclopedia of African American History, 1896 to the Present: From the Age of Segregation to the Twenty-first Century. Web. 23 Oct. 2012.

• Wilkinson, Michelle J. “Cortez, Jayne”, Oxford African American Studies Center. The Concise Oxford Companion to African American Literature. Web. 23 Oct. 2012

• ”Jayne Cortez.” jaynecortez08.com. Web. 23 Oct. 2012.

• “Jayne Cortez”. Afropoets.net. Web. 23 Oct. 2012.

• Hinton, Kaavonia. “Scott-Heron, Gil”. Oxford African American Studies Center. African American National Biography. Web. 23 Oct 2012.

• Foster, Lloren A. “Scot-Heron, Gil”. Oxford African American Studies Center. Encyclopedia of African American History, 1896 to the Present: From the Age of Segregation to the Twenty-first Century. Web. 23 Oct 2012.

• "Nikki Giovanni : Bio." Nikki Giovanni : Bio. Nikki Giovanni, n.d. Web. 12 Nov. 2012. http://nikki-giovanni.com/ibio.shtml.

• Fowler, Virginia C.. "Giovanni, Nikki." Black Women in America, Second Edition. Ed. Darlene Clark HineNew York: Oxford UP, 2008. Oxford African American Studies Center. Mon Nov 12 01:43:02 EST 2012. <http://www.oxfordaasc.com/article/opr/t0003/e0161>