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Black Art: A Cultural History
by Richard J. PowellThe African diaspora, "a direct result of the transatlantic slave trade and Western colonialism," generated a wide array of artistic achievements in the past century, from blues to reggae, from the paintings of Henry Ossawa Tanner to the video installations of Keith Piper. Richard Powell's study concentrates on the works of art themselves and on how these works, created during a time of major social upheaval and transformation, use black culture as both subject and context. From musings on the "the souls of black folk" in early twentieth-century painting, sculpture, and photography to questions of racial and cultural identities in performance, media, and computer-assisted arts in the 1990s, the book draws on the works of hundreds of artists including Jean-Michel Basquiat, Romare Bearden, Elizabeth Catlett, Lois Mailou Jones, Wifredo Lam, Jacob Lawrence, Spike Lee, Archibald Motley, Jr. , Faith Ringgold, and Gerard Sekoto. This revised edition includes expanded coverage of video art and a new chapter that discusses work by a number of artists who have newly risen to prominence, such as Chris Ofili, Kara Walker, and Ren e Cox. Biographies of more than 170 key artists provide a unique art-historical reference. Placing its emphasis on black cultural themes rather than on black racial identity, this groundbreaking book is an important exploration of the visual representations of black culture throughout the twentieth century and into the twenty-first.
The Black Arts Movement
by James SmethurstEmerging from a matrix of Old Left, black nationalist, and bohemian ideologies and institutions, African American artists and intellectuals in the 1960s coalesced to form the Black Arts Movement, the cultural wing of the Black Power Movement. In this comprehensive analysis, James Smethurst examines the formation of the Black Arts Movement and demonstrates how it deeply influenced the production and reception of literature and art in the United States through its negotiations of the ideological climate of the Cold War, decolonization, and the civil rights movement.Taking a regional approach, Smethurst examines local expressions of the nascent Black Arts Movement, a movement distinctive in its geographical reach and diversity, while always keeping the frame of the larger movement in view. The Black Arts Movement, he argues, fundamentally changed American attitudes about the relationship between popular culture and "high" art and dramatically transformed the landscape of public funding for the arts.
The Black Arts Movement and the Black Panther Party in American Visual Culture (Routledge Research in Art and Race)
by Jo-Ann MorganThis book examines a range of visual expressions of Black Power across American art and popular culture from 1965 through 1972. It begins with case studies of artist groups, including Spiral, OBAC and AfriCOBRA, who began questioning Western aesthetic traditions and created work that honored leaders, affirmed African American culture, and embraced an African lineage. Also showcased is an Oakland Museum exhibition of 1968 called "New Perspectives in Black Art," as a way to consider if Black Panther Party activities in the neighborhood might have impacted local artists’ work. The concluding chapters concentrate on the relationship between selected Black Panther Party members and visual culture, focusing on how they were covered by the mainstream press, and how they self-represented to promote Party doctrine and agendas.
Black Ballerinas: My Journey to Our Legacy
by Misty CopelandFrom New York Times bestselling and award-winning author and American Ballet Theatre principal dancer Misty Copeland comes an illustrated nonfiction collection celebrating dancers of color who have influenced her on and off the stage. <p><p> As a young girl living in a motel with her mother and her five siblings, Misty Copeland didn't have a lot of exposure to ballet or prominent dancers. She was sixteen when she saw a black ballerina on a magazine cover for the first time. The experience emboldened Misty and told her that she wasn't alone—and her dream wasn't impossible. <p><p> In the years since, Misty has only learned more about the trailblazing women who made her own success possible by pushing back against repression and racism with their talent and tenacity. Misty brings these women's stories to a new generation of readers and gives them the recognition they deserve. <p><p> With an introduction from Misty about the legacy these women have had on dance and on her career itself, this book delves into the lives and careers of women of color who fundamentally changed the landscape of American ballet from the early 20th century to today.
Black Ballerinas
by Misty CopelandFrom New York Times bestselling and award-winning author and American Ballet Theatre principal dancer Misty Copeland comes an illustrated nonfiction collection celebrating dancers of color who have influenced her on and off the stage. <p><p> As a young girl living in a motel with her mother and her five siblings, Misty Copeland didn’t have a lot of exposure to ballet or prominent dancers. She was sixteen when she saw a black ballerina on a magazine cover for the first time. The experience emboldened Misty and told her that she wasn’t alone—and her dream wasn’t impossible. <p> In the years since, Misty has only learned more about the trailblazing women who made her own success possible by pushing back against repression and racism with their talent and tenacity. Misty brings these women’s stories to a new generation of readers and gives them the recognition they deserve. <p> With an introduction from Misty about the legacy these women have had on dance and on her career itself, this book delves into the lives and careers of women of color who fundamentally changed the landscape of American ballet from the early 20th century to today.
Black Bodies, White Gold: Art, Cotton, and Commerce in the Atlantic World
by Anna Arabindan-KessonIn Black Bodies, White Gold Anna Arabindan-Kesson uses cotton, a commodity central to the slave trade and colonialism, as a focus for new interpretations of the way art, commerce, and colonialism were intertwined in the nineteenth-century Atlantic world. In doing so, Arabindan-Kesson models an art historical approach that makes the histories of the Black diaspora central to nineteenth-century cultural production. She traces the emergence of a speculative vision that informs perceptions of Blackness in which artistic renderings of cotton—as both commodity and material—became inexorably tied to the monetary value of Black bodies. From the production and representation of “negro cloth”—the textile worn by enslaved plantation workers—to depictions of Black sharecroppers in photographs and paintings, Arabindan-Kesson demonstrates that visuality was the mechanism through which Blackness and cotton became equated as resources for extraction. In addition to interrogating the work of nineteenth-century artists, she engages with contemporary artists such as Hank Willis Thomas, Lubaina Himid, and Yinka Shonibare CBE RA, who contend with the commercial and imperial processes shaping constructions of Blackness and meanings of labor.
The Black Body in Ecstasy: Reading Race, Reading Pornography
by Jennifer Christine NashIn The Black Body in Ecstasy, Jennifer C. Nash rewrites black feminism's theory of representation. Her analysis moves beyond black feminism's preoccupation with injury and recovery to consider how racial fictions can create a space of agency and even pleasure for black female subjects. Nash's innovative readings of hardcore pornographic films from the 1970s and 1980s develop a new method of analyzing racialized pornography that focuses on black women's pleasures in blackness: delights in toying with and subverting blackness, moments of racialized excitement, deliberate enactments of hyperbolic blackness, and humorous performances of blackness that poke fun at the fantastical project of race. Drawing on feminist and queer theory, critical race theory, and media studies, Nash creates a new black feminist interpretative practice, one attentive to the messy contradictions--between delight and discomfort, between desire and degradation--at the heart of black pleasures.
Black British Culture and Society: A Text Reader
by Kwesi OwusuBlack British Culture and Society brings together in one indispensable volume key writings on the Black community in Britain, from the 'Windrush' immigrations of the late 1940s and 1950s to contemporary multicultural Britain. Combining classic writings on Black British life with new, specially commissioned articles, Black British Culture and Society records the history of the post-war African and Caribbean diaspora, tracing the transformations of Black culture in British society.Black British Culture and Society explores key facets of the Black experience, charting Black Britons' struggles to carve out their own identity and place in an often hostile society. The articles reflect the rich diversity of the Black British experience, addressing economic and social issues such as health, religion, education, feminism, old age, community and race relations, as well as Black culture and the arts, with discussions of performance, carnival, sport, style, literature, theatre, art and film-making. The contributors examine the often tense relationship between successful Black public figures and the media, and address the role of the Black intellectual in public life. Featuring interviews with noted Black artists and writers such as Aubrey Williams, Mustapha Matura and Caryl Phillips, and including articles from key contemporary thinkers, such as Stuart Hall, A. Sivanandan, Paul Gilroy and Henry Louis Gates, Black British Culture and Society provides a rich resource of analysis, critique and comment on the Black community's distinctive contribution to cultural life in Britain today.
Black British Drama: A Transnational Story
by Michael PearceBlack British Drama: A Transnational Story looks afresh at the ways black theatre in Britain is connected to and informed by the spaces of Africa, the Caribbean and the USA. Michael Pearce offers an exciting new approach to reading modern and contemporary black British drama, examining plays by a range of writers including Michael Abbensetts, Mustapha Matura, Caryl Phillips, Winsome Pinnock, Kwame Kwei-Armah, debbie tucker green, Roy Williams and Bola Agbaje. Chapters combine historical documentation and discussion with close analysis to provide an in-depth, absorbing account of post-war black British drama situated within global and transnational circuits. A significant contribution to black British and black diaspora theatre studies, Black British Drama is a must-read for scholars and students in this evolving field.
Black British Women's Theatre: Intersectionality, Archives, Aesthetics
by Nicola AbramThis book marks a significant methodological shift in studies of black British women’s theatre: it looks beyond published plays to the wealth of material held in archives of various kinds, from national repositories and themed collections to individuals’ personal papers. It finds there a cache of unpublished manuscripts and production recordings distinctive for their non-naturalistic aesthetics. Close analysis of selected works identifies this as an intersectional feminist creative practice. Chapters focus on five theatre companies and artists, spanning several decades: Theatre of Black Women (1982-1988), co-founded by Booker Prize-winning writer Bernardine Evaristo; Munirah Theatre Company (1983-1991); Black Mime Theatre Women’s Troop (1990-1992); Zindika; and SuAndi. The book concludes by reflecting on the politics of representation, with reference to popular postmillennial playwright debbie tucker green. Drawing on new interviews with the playwrights/practitioners and their peers, this book assembles a rich, interconnected, and occasionally corrective history of black British women’s creativity. By reproducing 22 facsimile images of flyers, production programmes, photographs and other ephemera, Black British Women’s Theatre: Intersectionality, Archives, Aesthetics not only articulates a hidden history but allows its readers their own encounter with the fragile record of this vibrant past.
Black, Brown + Latinx Design Educators: Conversations on Design and Race
by Kelly WaltersIn Black, Brown + Latinx Design Educators, Kelly Walters collects twelve deeply personal interviews with graphic design educators of color who teach at colleges and universities across the United States and Canada. The book centers the unique narratives of Black, Brown, and Latinx design educators, from their childhood experiences to their navigation of undergraduate and graduate studies and their career paths in academia and practice. The interviewees represent a cross-section of ethnic and multiracial backgrounds—African American, Jamaican, Indian, Pakistani, Puerto Rican, Dominican, Mexican, and Brazilian. Their impactful stories offer invaluable perspectives for students and emerging designers of color, creating an entry point to address the complexities of race in design and bring to light the challenges of teaching graphic design at different types of public and private institutions. Interwoven throughout the book are images that maintain cultural significance, from family heirlooms to design works that highlight aspects of their cultural identities. Readers will gain insight into the multitude of experiences of Black, Brown, and Latinx design educators who teach and work in the field today.
The Black Civil War Soldier: A Visual History of Conflict and Citizenship (NYU Series in Social and Cultural Analysis #11)
by Deborah WillisA stunning collection of stoic portraits and intimate ephemera from the lives of Black Civil War soldiersThough both the Union and Confederate armies excluded African American men from their initial calls to arms, many of the men who eventually served were black. Simultaneously, photography culture blossomed—marking the Civil War as the first conflict to be extensively documented through photographs. In The Black Civil War Soldier, Deb Willis explores the crucial role of photography in (re)telling and shaping African American narratives of the Civil War, pulling from a dynamic visual archive that has largely gone unacknowledged.With over seventy images, The Black Civil War Soldier contains a huge breadth of primary and archival materials, many of which are rarely reproduced. The photographs are supplemented with handwritten captions, letters, and other personal materials; Willis not only dives into the lives of black Union soldiers, but also includes stories of other African Americans involved with the struggle—from left-behind family members to female spies. Willis thus compiles a captivating memoir of photographs and words and examines them together to address themes of love and longing; responsibility and fear; commitment and patriotism; and—most predominantly—African American resilience.The Black Civil War Soldier offers a kaleidoscopic yet intimate portrait of the African American experience, from the beginning of the Civil War to 1900. Through her multimedia analysis, Willis acutely pinpoints the importance of African American communities in the development and prosecution of the war. The book shows how photography helped construct a national vision of blackness, war, and bondage, while unearthing the hidden histories of these black Civil War soldiers. In combating the erasure of this often overlooked history, Willis asks how these images might offer a more nuanced memory of African-American participation in the Civil War, and in doing so, points to individual and collective struggles for citizenship and remembrance.
Black Coffee Lighting: David Lynch Returns to Twin Peaks
by Greg OlsonGreg Olson (author of David Lynch: Beautiful Dark and former film curator at the Seattle Art Museum) deconstructs Twin Peaks's widely acclaimed return to TV in 2017 through a unique lens encompassing William Blake, Walt Whitman, Jean Cocteau, Philip K. Dick, the color pink, the Bible, Vedic literature, and Marvel superheroes. David Lynch is an international icon of visionary artistic innovation, humanistic thought and philanthropy, and spiritual exploration, and Twin Peaks: The Return is his magnum opus, a mythopoetic summation of his deepest beliefs and concerns. In Black Coffee Lightning: David Lynch Returns to Twin Peaks, Greg Olson (David Lynch: Beautiful Dark), in his characteristically intimate and personal way, traces the Twin Peaks currents of Lynch&’s emotional-visceral storytelling, themes, imagery, and sound: the way the artist and viewer share an electrified circuit of mystery and understanding. Olson details Lynch&’s kinship with transcendence-seeking artists like William Blake, Walt Whitman, Jean Cocteau, Philip K. Dick, and the post-World War II mystical Northwest painters. Small-town values, coffee culture, the color pink, the Bible, Vedic literature, Marvel Comics superheroes, and a Parisian camera crew wanting Olson to guide them through Twin Peaks territory all make appearances. Over a thirty-year span, Lynch and Mark Frost created forty-eight hours of Twin Peaks TV and film, hypnotic cinematic music immersed in the depths and divine heights of human nature, a soulful song of the forest, America, the world, the cosmos. Olson, Lynch, and Twin Peaks have been on parallel tracks for decades. Olson&’s longtime love, Linda Bowers, died shortly before Twin Peaks: The Return aired, and his lived experience with Lynch&’s art speaks to the healing power of artistic engagement. Here his chronicle includes personal interaction with Lynch and Frost and their colleagues, as well as Olson&’s perception of Lynch's inner world of karmic balancing, reincarnation, spiritual evolution, and veneration of women.
Black Colleges of Atlanta, The (Campus History)
by Rodney T. CohenBy 1865, although Atlanta and the Confederacy still lay wounded in the wake of the Union victory, black higher education began its thrust for recognition. Some of the first of the American colleges formed specifically for the education of black students were founded in Atlanta, Georgia. These schools continue, over a century later, to educate, train and inspire. Through an engaging collection of images and informative captions, their story begins to unfold. Atlanta University was the pioneer college for blacks in the state of Georgia. Founded in 1865, it was followed by Morehouse College in 1867, Clark University in 1869, and Spelman and Morris Brown Colleges in 1881. By 1929, Atlanta University discontinued undergraduate work and affiliated with Morehouse and Spelman in a plan known as the "Atlanta University System." A formal agreement of cooperation including all of the Atlanta colleges occurred in 1957, solidifying the common goal and principles each school was founded upon-to make literate the black youth of America. Today, the shared resources of each institution provide a unique and challenging experience for young Africa Americans seeking higher education. The schools boast a long and distinguished list of alumni and scholars, including W.E.B. DuBois, James Weldon Johnson, Martin Luther King, Henry O. Tanner, and C. Eric Lincoln.
Black Creek Pioneer Village: Toronto's Living History Village
by Helma Mika Nick Mika Gary ThompsonBlack Creek Pioneer Village: Toronto’s Living History Village is a recreation of a typical crossroads community found in Southern Ontario during the 1800s. Nestled on 56 acres of tranquility, the village is a step-back-in-time, a respite from the towering buildings and bustling traffic of the 21st century. Here, visitors discover the joys and daily realities of living in early Ontario. Here at the village, the sights, sounds and smells are tangible reminders of our past. Meet the blacksmith, the tinsmith, the weaver, the miller, the printer … Meet the people who "live" at Black Creek and bring our yesteryears to life.
Black Cultural Production after Civil Rights
by Robert PattersonThe post-civil rights era of the 1970s offered African Americans an all-too-familiar paradox. Material and symbolic gains contended with setbacks fueled by resentment and reaction. African American artists responded with black approaches to expression that made history in their own time and continue to exercise an enormous influence on contemporary culture and politics.This collection's fascinating spectrum of topics begins with the literary and cinematic representations of slavery from the 1970s to the present. Other authors delve into visual culture from Blaxploitation to the art of Betye Saar to stage works like A Movie Star Has to Star in Black and White as well as groundbreaking literary works like Corregidora and Captain Blackman. A pair of concluding essays concentrate on institutional change by looking at the Seventies surge of black publishing and by analyzing Ntozake Shange's for colored girls… in the context of current controversies surrounding sexual violence. Throughout, the writers reveal how Seventies black cultural production anchors important contemporary debates in black feminism and other issues while spurring the black imagination to thrive amidst abject social and political conditions.Contributors: Courtney Baker, Soyica Diggs Colbert, Madhu Dubey, Nadine Knight, Monica White Ndounou, Kinohi Nishikawa, Samantha Pinto, Jermaine Singleton, Terrion L. Williamson, and Lisa Woolfork
Black & Decker: The Complete Guide to Masonry and Stonework
by Creative Publishing InternationalFeatures all new, state-of-the-art information on decorative concrete finishes, including acid coloring, stamping, and using cementitious paints. Another new section shows easy methods for casting concrete in forms to create countertops, garden benches, and other accessories.
Black Directors in Hollywood
by Melvin DonalsonThis book offers a first comprehensive look at the work of black directors in Hollywood, from pioneers such as Gordon Parks, Melvin Van Peebles, and Ossie Davis to current talents including Spike Lee, John Singleton, Kasi Lemmons, and Carl Franklin. Discussing 67 individuals and over 135 films, Melvin Donalson thoroughly explores how black directors' storytelling skills and film techniques have widened both the thematic focus and visual style of American cinema. Assessing the meanings and messages in their films, he convincingly demonstrates that black directors are balancing Hollywood's demand for box office success with artistic achievement and responsibility to ethnic, cultural, and gender issues.
Black Diva of the Thirties: The Life of Ruby Elzy (Willie Morris Books in Memoir and Biography)
by David E. WeaverWhile undergoing routine surgery to remove a benign tumor, Ruby Elzy died. She was only thirty-five. Had she lived, she would have been one of the first Black artists to appear in grand opera. Although now in the shadows, she was a shining star in her day. She entertained Eleanor Roosevelt in the White House. She was Paul Robeson's leading lady in the movie version of The Emperor Jones. She starred in Birth of the Blues opposite Bing Crosby and Mary Martin. She sang at Harlem's Apollo Theater and in the Hollywood Bowl. Her remarkable soprano voice was known to millions over the radio. She was personally chosen by George Gershwin to create one of the leading roles in his masterpiece, that of Serena in the original production of Porgy and Bess. Her signature song was the vocally demanding “My Man's Gone Now.” From obscurity she had risen to great heights. Ruby Pearl Elzy (1908-1943) was born in abject poverty in Pontotoc, Mississippi. Her father abandoned the family when she was five, leaving her mother, a strong, devout woman, to raise four small children. Ruby first sang publicly at the age of four and even in childhood dreamed of a career on the stage. Good fortune struck when a visiting professor, overwhelmed upon hearing her beautiful voice at Rust College in Mississippi, arranged for her to study music at Ohio State University. Later, on a Rosenwald Fellowship, she enrolled at the Juilliard School in New York City. After more than eight hundred performances in Porgy and Bess, she set her sights on a huge goal, to sing in grand opera. She was at the peak of her form. While she was preparing for her debut in the title role of Verdi's Aida, tragedy struck. During her brief career, Ruby Elzy was in the top tier of American sopranos and a precursor who paved a way for Leontyne Price, Jessye Norman, Kathleen Battle, and other black divas of the operatic stage. This biography acknowledges her exceptional talent, recognizes her contribution to American music, and tells her tragic yet inspiring story.
Black Dog: The Dreams of Paul Nash
by Dave McKeanA new original graphic novel by DAVE McKEAN!Best known for his collaborations with Neil Gaiman, Dave McKean defied expectations with his stunning debut as writerand artist in Cages, winner of multiple awards for Best Graphic Album. Dark Horse proudly presents a new original graphic novel by the legendary artist based on the life of Paul Nash, a surrealist painter during World War I. The Dreams of Paul Nash deals with real soldiers&’ memoirs, and all the stories add up to a moving piece about how war and extreme situations change us and how we deal with the resultant pain—in Nash&’s case, by turning his landscapes into powerful and fantastical &“psychoscapes.
Black Dog: The Dreams of Paul Nash (Second Edition)
by Dave McKeanNew edition with bonus material by Dave McKean!Dark Horse proudly presents a new, second edition, of the graphic novel by legendary artist Dave McKean, based on the life of Paul Nash, a surrealist painter during World War 1. The Dreams of Paul Nash deals with real soldier's memoirs and all the stories add up to a moving piece about how war and extreme situations change us, how we deal with that pain, and, in Nash's case, how he responded by turning his landscapes into powerful and fantastical psychoscapes. The second edition of Black Dog: The Dreams of Paul Nash features a new cover by Dave McKean, along with 15 pages of new bonus material examining the creation of the book.
Black Eagle Child
by Ray A. Young BearStories of life on a Native American settlement during the 50s,60s and 70s. Told in poetry in prose.
Black Elegies: Meditations on the Art of Mourning (On Seeing)
by Kimberly Juanita BrownA poignant, unflinching study of black grief as a form of elegy found in visual art, music, literature—everywhere, if you know how to see it.In Black Elegies, Kimberly Juanita Brown examines the form of the elegy and its unique capacity to convey the elongated grief borne of sustained racial violence. Structured around the sensorial, the book moves through sight, sound, and touch to reveal what Okwui Enwezor calls the &“national emergency of black grief.&” With her characteristic literary skill, Brown analyzes the work of major figures including Toni Morrison, Carrie Mae Weems, Audre Lorde, and Marvin Gaye, among others.Brown contemplates recognizable sites of mourning: forced migration and enslavement, bodily violations, imprisonment and death. And she examines sites that do not register immediately as archives of grief: the landscape of southern U.S. slave plantations, a spontaneous street party, a quilt constructed out of the clothing worn by a loved one, a dance performance to hold the memory of history, and an aeolian harp installed at an institute of European art, among others. In this, the book offers a framework of mourning while black, within the parameters of contemporary artistic production. Brown asks: How do you mourn those you are not supposed to see? And where does the grief go? She shows us that grief is everywhere: &“It spills out of photographs and modulates music. It hovers in the tenor and tone of cinematic performances. It resides in the body like an inspired concept, waiting for its articulation.&”
Black Elk Peak: A History (Natural History)
by Bradley SaumThe history of Black Elk Peak—previously known as Hinhan Kaga and, more recently, as Harney Peak—remained segmented and scattered throughout the shadows of antiquity, until now. The natural landmark’s namesake, Black Elk, experienced his great vision here, solidifying his status as a Sioux holy man. Obstructed by the insurmountable granite, General Custer and his horse nearly summited during the 1874 expedition. On that granite, sculptor Gutzon Borglum made the decision to carve a grand monument into the face of nearby Mount Rushmore. Prior to serving as the first Pine Ridge Reservation Indian agent and then mayor of Rapid City, Valentine McGillycuddy documented his ascent to the peak in 1875, where his ashes would come to rest. Author Bradley Saum chronicles the unique and untold stories that are intrinsically linked to the highest point in the Black Hills.
The Black Experience in Design: Identity, Expression & Reflection
by Anne H. BerryThe Black Experience in Design spotlights teaching practices, research, stories, and conversations from a Black/African diasporic lens. Excluded from traditional design history and educational canons that heavily favor European modernist influences, the work and experiences of Black designers have been systematically overlooked in the profession for decades. However, given the national focus on diversity, equity, and inclusion in the aftermath of the nationwide Black Lives Matter protests in the United States, educators, practitioners, and students now have the opportunity—as well as the social and political momentum—to make long-term, systemic changes in design education, research, and practice, reclaiming the contributions of Black designers in the process.The Black Experience in Design, an anthology centering a range of perspectives, spotlights teaching practices, research, stories, and conversations from a Black/African diasporic lens. Through the voices represented, this text exemplifies the inherently collaborative and multidisciplinary nature of design, providing access to ideas and topics for a variety of audiences, meeting people as they are and wherever they are in their knowledge about design. Ultimately, The Black Experience in Design serves as both inspiration and a catalyst for the next generation of creative minds tasked with imagining, shaping, and designing our future.