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The tradition of writing and performing poetry is rooted deeply in the culture of African, Black
American communities and many cultures around the world. It was used during the Greek empire by
Homer to pass down the stories of their gods. The ancient West African tradition of the griot reciting 4
hours long stories of royal lineage is one of the oldest examples of oral performance. It has aided this
community for ages even staying with the displaced people of Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade. Poetry has
been used historically in the black communities of America as a form of protest and rebellion. Many
authors like Langston Hughes, Richard Wright, Zora Neal Hurston, James Baldwin and Phyllis Wheatley
have detailed the discrimination and oppression of slavery, segregation and Jim Crow/black code laws.
The tradition continues with contemporary slam poets and the spoken words of artists using their work to
start a discourse on more contemporary forms of oppression like militarized police brutality, economic
disenfranchisement and gentrification. It is important to understand the connection between the varying se
iterations of black poetry. A major theme through out this genre is the idea that blackness represents
many different and varying narratives. In the article Contemporary Black? Performance Poetry Birgit
Bauridl writes Despite multiple references to the black past, contemporary black performance poetry by
no means constitutes a single black narrative the term black here represents a heterogeneous group
with similar diverse histories and context that is shaped by various crossings of national and cultural
border. (Bauridl, 2010, p. 8). Poets and writers exemplify these ideal by giving complicated, diverse and
at times contradictory narrative that show the dense tapestry of stories that define blackness.
Amiri Baraka was an extraordinarily influential poet, playwright, essayist, activist and political
organizer most known for his enormous contribution to the Black Arts Movement. He wrote many poems
and essays centered around black culture and life. Much of his work focuses on the effects of systematic
discrimination and oppression on the black community. Baraka worked with the Black Liberation
Movement to directly impact the forms of oppression that he wrote about. He also presents us with
diverse representation of black life. One his most famous and polarizing poems is Black Art.
Works Cited
Arnez, N. L. (2016, October 24). Black poetry: a necessary ingredient for survival and liberation. Sage
publication. Retrieved October/November, 2016, from Libraries worldwide.
Baraka, A. (2014). SOS poems 1961-2013. New York, NY: Grove Press.
Bauridl, B. M. (2010, February 4). Contemporary "black?" performance poetry. sage publication.
Retrieved October/November, 2016, from http://www.jstor.org/stable/41158724
Brooks, D. (2006). Bodies in dissent:sSpectacular performance of race and freedom,1850-1910.
Durham, NC: Duke University Press.
Carpenter, F. (2014). Coloring whiteness: acts of critique in black performance. Ann arbor, MI: The
University of michigan press.
Def Poetry Jam - Amiri Baraka - Why is we american? [Video file]. (2010, August 26). In YouTube.com.
Retrieved October/November, 2016, from https://youtu.be/7ziRjhAgTO8
Def Poetry Jam - Saul Williams - (Coded language) [Video file]. (2007, April 7). In YouTube.com.
Retrieved October/November, 2016, from https://youtu.be/jzY2-GRDiPM