Black Power

In addition, many black men within the organization found it difficult to understand the resentment woman had in being equal. For instance, there was this grey line between whites and black men where whites did not understand why blacks resented being called “boy” or a stereotypical name. Just as the whites did not understand, so did the blacks. The masculine pride of black males clouded their judgment, thus perceiving women as a threat to their existence. In essence, black males within the…

as a Black Studies major has given me the ability to think critically and analyze others…

confidence and struggle for black identity led to a new widespread celebration of blackness. The Ebony magazines from the 1970’s featured advertisements that declared a new “Beautiful Black.” The May issue in 1970 encouraged both black men and women to embrace their natural beauty. For example, some commercials displayed black men and women with afros, showcasing their natural hair instead of straightening it out. One article even wrote of a beauty queen, Miss “Black America,” who proudly wore…

Williams treated black people as his model and was deeply influenced by them. He put the ideas of black kids he met in the barbershop as the standards of hip-hop standards; he regarded the people he encountered on the basketball courts as signs of basketball for black people. In this case, he started to consider Hip-hop as a spirit and stated that “Hip-hop is more than just a genre of music” (Williams 63). While asked by a black girl to keep the anniversary of Notorious B…

In the asking of these questions Black Nationalism took a stand in preaching self-reliance, a holistic approach in viewing nationalism in the black community and created a sense of intellectual liberation, the effects of this can be seen vividly in the art and literature of the Black Arts Movement. In the climax of Amiri Baraka’s Dutchman Clay does just this, eviscerating all of Lula’s preconceived notions of what blackness was and gave her an inside understanding of what her privilege disallows…

personal heritage resulted in further appreciation, and inspiration to take on her career as a poet. When Giovanni was still a young girl, she and her family left Knoxville, Tennessee, and moved to Lincoln Heights, Ohio, one of the predominantly black communities during this time period. However, her relationship she shared with her grandmother remained unblemished. Giovanni’s poetry…

As the United States black power movement of the 1960’s and 70’s gained momentum, African American artists seized the scene and created pieces that reflected their history of oppression and embraced the progress towards attaining equality. Focusing on two works in particular, Betye Saar’s iconic The Liberation of Aunt Jemima (1972), and Richard Hunt’s sculpture the Outgrown Pyramid #1 (1973), will help uncover the plight of African American’s at that time. These artists both demonstrate a keen…

Afros directly challenged the traditional ideal of beauty that devalued natural black features. Afros and Black power contradicted the more acceptable straightened styles that black women had been conditioned to wear for decades. Because this white aesthetic historically represented the norm for beautiful hair, afros represented its direct opposite. And because hair is something…

There was essentially no point in working because whatever earnings they did make would go to the husband. Woman had many issues prior to the movement. One of which being inequality of pay compared to men. Woman who were black had it even worse. Aside from them being black they were also woman so they had it 2 times as worse. Another issue was women’s earnings going to the husband if there was no agreement between the two. And the inequality of being a woman and the way you were looked at as…

Black Boy in the Twenty-First Century 70 years after the publication of Black Boy, the social aspects of a black man’s life today would have shocked Richard Wright, the author of the autobiography, with how little and how much things have changed in our “modern“ society. If Richard Wright were to write a book titled Black Boy today, he would write about the brutality of the police towards black people, racial profiling and finally, the black society and their ability to unite today. First,…