A Defining Book on the Black Arts Movement - ep. by Howard Rambsy II

A short take on a widely cited scholarly book on 1960s and 1970s African American artistic production, James Smethurst's The Black Arts Movement: Literary Nationalism in the 1960s and 1970s  (2004).
Episode by Howard Rambsy II 
Read by Kassandra Timm

Transcript

In 1991, scholar David Lionel Smith wrote an article pointing out the lack of scholarship on African American literary activity of the 1960s and 1970s. Most memorably, Smith wrote that “the silence regarding the Black Arts Movement is deafening.”

Well, several scholars took note. From the early 2000s onward, the critical discourse on the Black Arts Movement grew by leaps and bounds. And one of the many books produced during that time period deserves special mention. 

You’re listening to Remarkable Receptions—a podcast about popular and critical responses to African American artistic productions, historical events, and more.  

A 10-year stretch between 2004 and 2013, gave way to more than 20 single-authored books about the Black Arts Movement. In addition, scholars published even more articles on Black arts literature and authors during that time period.

James Smethurst’s extensive study entitled The Black Arts Movement: Literary Nationalism in the 1960s and 1970s, published in 2004, is one of the most frequently cited books on the subject. Smethurst’s book represents a tremendous gathering and synthesizing of information and literary works.  He mentions notable works, literary journals, anthologies, and special events. 

Articles and books written about the Black Arts Movement after 2004 invariably cite Smethurst’s book, which now serves as a kind of guide for graduate students and others seeking to learn more about 1960s and 1970s artistic production. 

Smethurst apparently took that idea about the deafening silence of the Black Arts Movement seriously. He ended up making the contributions of the movement loud and clear in his important study. 

 Smethurst will be the first to tell you that his book doesn’t cover everything from that era. Still, his book was a wonderful gateway or connector that assisted in the production of multiple future studies. 

 And oh, Smethurst didn’t stop with that one book. In addition to giving talks and publishing articles on the subject, Smethurst served as a co-editor with John H. Bracey, Jr., and Sonia Sanchez on the 2014 book SOS-Calling All Black People – A Black Arts Movement Reader. In 2021, Smethurst published Behold the Land: The Black Arts Movement in the South.  Smethurst’s contributions changed the course of public access to and reception of knowledge on the Black Arts Movement.

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This episode was written by Howard Rambsy. The episode was edited by Elizabeth Cali.

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Remarkable Receptions is part of the Black Literature Network, a joint project from African American literary studies at Southern Illinois University Edwardsville and the History of Black Writing at the University of Kansas. The project was made possible by the generous support of the Mellon Foundation.  For more information, visit blacklitnetwork.org.