The Black Arts Movement and the Black Panther Party in American Visual Culture

248 Pages·2019·9.65 MB·English

The Black Arts Movement and the Black
Panther Party in American Visual Culture
This 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, affi rmed 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.
Jo-Ann Morgan is Professor of African American Studies and Art History at Western
Illinois University, USA. Her previous book, Uncle Tom’s Cabin as Visual Culture,
received the Peter Seaborg Award for Civil War Scholarship in 2008.
Routledge Research in Art and Race
Routledge Research in Art and Race is a new series focusing on race as examined by
scholars working in the fi elds of art history and visual studies. Proposals for mono-
graphs and edited collections on this topic are welcomed.
Henry Ossawa Tanner
Art, Faith, Race, and Legacy
Naurice Frank Woods, Jr.
The Black Arts Movement and the Black Panther Party
in American Visual Culture
Jo-Ann Morgan
For a full list of titles in this series, please visit www.routledge.com/art/series/RRAR
Frontispiece Black Panther demonstration, San Francisco.
© 2018 Ilka Hartmann.
This was the fi rst time the photographer ever saw any writing on clothing. She thought it a revolutionary
gesture that the teenager had written “Black is Beautiful,” recently coined by Stokely Carmichael, on his
second-hand Army jacket.

The Black Arts Movement
and the Black Panther Party
in American Visual Culture
Jo-Ann Morgan
First published 2019
by Routledge
52 Vanderbilt Avenue, New York, NY 10017
and by Routledge
2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon, OX14 4RN
Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business
© 2019 Taylor & Francis
The right of Jo-Ann Morgan to be identifi ed as author of this work has been
asserted by her in accordance with sections 77 and 78 of the Copyright,
Designs and Patents Act 1988.
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or
utilised in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now
known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in
any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing
from the publishers.
Every effort has been made to contact copyright-holders. Please advise
the publisher of any errors or omissions, and these will be corrected in
subsequent editions.
Trademark notice : Product or corporate names may be trademarks or
registered trademarks, and are used only for identifi cation and explanation
without intent to infringe.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
A catalog record for this book has been requested
ISBN: 978-1-138-60592-3 (hbk)
ISBN: 978-0-429-46785-1 (ebk)
Typeset in Sabon
by Apex CoVantage, LLC
Cover Image: Elizabeth Catlett, American,1915-2001. Negro es Bello II
(1969/2000, color lithograph, 27 ¾ × 21 1/16″). Collection of the author.
Photo by Matt Gubanscik. © Catlett-Mora Family Trust / Licensed by
VAGA, New York, NY.
This book took shape in African American Studies classrooms.
I dedicate it to my students.
“This book gathers compelling images from a period in African American history that
we still struggle to comprehend and honor. As an art historian Jo-Ann Morgan brings
an incisive intelligence to her work, situating the images in their time and place, and
providing a welcome visual resource for students of the sixties.”
A.J. Morey, James Madison University, USA
Contents
List of Figures x
Preface: Picturing Black Power xiv
PART I
“Black Arts We Make”: Aesthetics, Collaboration,
and Social Identity in the Visual Art of Black Power 1
Introduction to Part I 3
1 Pedigree of the Black Arts Movement: The March on
Washington, Death of Malcolm X, and Free Jazz 10
2 Organization of Black American Culture: A Show of Respect 26
3 African Commune of Bad Relevant Artists: Forging a Black
Aesthetic 36
4 “New Perspectives in Black Art”: An Oakland Class of ’68 Says
“Black Lives Matter” 53
PART II
The Black Panther Party in Photography and Print Ephemera 83
Introduction to Part II 85
5 Huey P. Newton Enthroned: Iconic Image of Black Power 89
6 Eldridge Cleaver’s Visual Acumen and the Coalition of Black
Power with White Resistance 112
7 Emory Douglas: Revolutionary Artist and Visual Theorist 135
8 Picturing the Female Revolutionary 163
Bibliography 193
Index 205