In honor of National Poetry Month, we continue to shine a light on many facets of poetry. Now, we take a look at the poets of the Black Arts Movement that spanned from the mid-60s to the mid-70s.
Prominent poets of its time included the likes of Amiri Baraka, Gwendolyn Brooks, Gil Scott Heron, Nikki Giovanni, Audre Lorde, Sonia Sanchez, and the Last Poets, to name a few.
Sarah Rudewalker, assistant professor of English at Spelman College, covers this influential arts movement in her new book Revolutionary Poetics. In this interview, “City Lights” Producer Jeannine Etter speaks with Professor Rudewalker about the poets of the Black Arts Movement and their influence.
“That performative folk-based heritage is something that I think that hip-hop inherited from the work that Black Arts poets did,” says Rudewalker.
More information about RudeWalker’s new book, “Revolutionary Poetics,” is available here.
