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157
special kit for little boys called Burn Baby
I’m told it has full instructions for how to siphon gas
and fill a bottle
Here the speaker invokes the aesthetic style of Black Power
(natural hair styles) and the actions of black revolutionaries (vandalism
and Molotov cocktails). Thus, not only is one to act the part of a
revolutionary, one must also look the part. The actions are not viewed
here as criminal acts, but as part of a liberation struggle. The poem
implies is that the violence done to black people must be answered in kind
and that such action is both necessary and justified. Sit-ins and marches
will not lead to liberation but burning things down will. Like Baraka’s
work, Giovanni’s poem exists as part of this revolutionary action and
therein resides the value of the poem itself. Giovanni writes:
And this poem I give is worth much more than any
nickle bag
or ten cent toy
And you will understand all too soon
That you, my children of battle, are your heroes
You must invent your own games and teach us old ones
how to play
We can hear echoes of Baraka’s admonishment that “poems are
bullshit unless they are /teeth or trees or lemons piled/ on a step.”17
Object Description
| Title | "As shelters against the cold": women writers of the Black Arts and Chicano movements, 1965-1978 |
| Author | Ryder, Ulli Kira |
| Author email | uryder@usc.edu; uryder@gmail.com |
| Degree | Doctor of Philosophy |
| Document type | Dissertation |
| Degree program | American Studies & Ethnicity |
| School | College of Letters, Arts and Sciences |
| Date defended/completed | 2008-08-27 |
| Date submitted | 2008 |
| Restricted until | Restricted until 27 October 2010. |
| Date published | 2010-10-27 |
| Advisor (committee chair) | McKenna, Teresa |
| Advisor (committee member) |
Sanchez, George J. Johnson, Dana |
| Abstract | This dissertation examines the work of women writers in the Black Arts and Chicano movements during the years 1965-1978. I argue that understanding the intersectional nature of the women's experiences is crucial for understanding their literary output. Further, I argue that Chicanas and African American women of this era challenged homogenous notions of community and racial identity and that we can trace the development of the Third World feminism and multiculturalism that came to the fore in the 1980s to this earlier period. Thus, this study also impacts the way we conceptualize identity formation and the creation of the literary canon. Investigating the ways in which these women integrated nationalist and feminist rhetoric and activism in their work is crucial for a full understanding of this critical period in U.S. history. At stake is an understanding of how Chicana and African American women in the United States have formed identities and communities; struggled for liberation and equality; and become part of the U.S. literary canon. |
| Keyword | Black Power; Black Arts movement; Chicano movement; civil rights; racial identity formation; womanism; borderlands theory; feminism; Third World feminism; nationalism; intersectionality |
| Geographic subject (country) | USA |
| Coverage date | 1965/1978 |
| Language | English |
| Part of collection | University of Southern California dissertations and theses |
| Publisher (of the original version) | University of Southern California |
| Place of publication (of the original version) | Los Angeles, California |
| Publisher (of the digital version) | University of Southern California. Libraries |
| Provenance | Electronically uploaded by the author |
| Type | texts |
| Legacy record ID | usctheses-m1698 |
| Contributing entity | University of Southern California |
| Rights | Ryder, Ulli Kira |
| Repository name | Libraries, University of Southern California |
| Repository address | Los Angeles, California |
| Repository email | cisadmin@lib.usc.edu |
| Filename | etd-Ryder-2415 |
| Archival file | uscthesesreloadpub_Volume40/etd-Ryder-2415.pdf |
Description
| Title | Page 162 |
| Contributing entity | University of Southern California |
| Repository email | cisadmin@lib.usc.edu |
| Full text | 157 special kit for little boys called Burn Baby I’m told it has full instructions for how to siphon gas and fill a bottle Here the speaker invokes the aesthetic style of Black Power (natural hair styles) and the actions of black revolutionaries (vandalism and Molotov cocktails). Thus, not only is one to act the part of a revolutionary, one must also look the part. The actions are not viewed here as criminal acts, but as part of a liberation struggle. The poem implies is that the violence done to black people must be answered in kind and that such action is both necessary and justified. Sit-ins and marches will not lead to liberation but burning things down will. Like Baraka’s work, Giovanni’s poem exists as part of this revolutionary action and therein resides the value of the poem itself. Giovanni writes: And this poem I give is worth much more than any nickle bag or ten cent toy And you will understand all too soon That you, my children of battle, are your heroes You must invent your own games and teach us old ones how to play We can hear echoes of Baraka’s admonishment that “poems are bullshit unless they are /teeth or trees or lemons piled/ on a step.”17 |
