In pondering the influence and impact of the Black Arts Movement on young writers across the United States– the magazines, writing collectives, newspapers and newsletters that were born of the movement, I can’t help but recall something Ntozake Shange mentioned about her own writing process. She talked about about how there was a period in her life when she could only write poems when she was in love — that her process existed in her relationships with lovers. Her process didn’t change until she had her daughter– her experience of love and loving shifted from an external process to an internal process– the nurturing of one’s own creation. A nurturing that would come to include introducing her daughter to the world of art she helped to build and foster. While this intimate bit of her life may seem removed from one’s considerations about the spread of information, it is so indicative to me about the nature of art– creating and sharing. I become wholly aware of the constant shifting and mindfulness that is necessary in creating work of oneself with the intent that it will touch others.
I’ve spent some time considering last week’s rereading of ‘A Daughter’s Geography,’–comparing it to works like ‘for colored girls’ and ‘nappy edges,’ and considering the Black Arts Movement and Decolonization efforts of the time. What they all have have in common is Shange, herself, of course. Shange’s passion for telling stories and for hearing stories drove her across the country to engage with the creative process. In participating in her work and understanding the history of it we have revived the conversation and included ourselves. We have reactivated an archive, if you will.
We didn’t have time in class to flesh out a question I posed during my presentation that I think speaks to this idea of reactivating and re-visioning the “archive.” The question read:
The Black Arts Movement — collectives, publications, aesthetic tradition, the prioritizing of the Black experience — spread across the country over the course of ten years when prominent figures Sonia Sanchez, Ntozake Shange and others migrated to the West Coast to teach, perform, and create.
How would we envision such an exchange today considering the possibilities of technology? Could we compare this spread of information to movements today, or not?
I can’t help but giggle because this act that I’m performing right now — contributing knowledge to a blog; an online platform for sharing with others, is almost an answer to my question. I consider current movements that have been born of the Internet, or gained considerable following via the Internet, that have garnered worldwide attention– Black Lives Matter, Black Trans Lives Matter, Occupy, etc. and wonder if they are comparable to something like the Black Arts Movement– I wonder if we’re writing ourselves into “history books” so to say. And further ponder what that even means… If we are to change conceptions of an archive by understanding its carceral origins can’t we also re conceptualize how we create history by engaging with history.. in the fullest way?