The document discusses the history and origins of spoken word poetry in the Black Arts Movement from the 1960s-1970s. It provides brief biographies of influential spoken word poets from that era, including Jayne Cortez, The Last Poets, Gil Scott-Heron, and Nikki Giovanni. These poets drew from African oral traditions and used their poetry as a form of political and social commentary addressing issues like racism, poverty, and the black experience in America.

1. SPOKEN WORD
THE BLACK ARTS MOVEMENT

2. THE HISTORY OF SPOKEN WORD
• African story telling
• Griots
• History passed down orally
• Poetry, music, song, dance, lessons, narratives

3. SPOKEN WORD IN THE BLACK ARTS MOVMEMENT
• 1965 - mid 1970s
• Riots, Murder of Malcolm X
• LeRoi Jones wrote in 1965 , “we want poems that kill”
• Political and artistic influences
• Attack and eliminate white mainstream literary
sensibilities
• Radical performative speech and expression = literary
power
• Precedence to vernacular poetry, the dramatic arts, and
Hip-Hop

4. Jayne cortez
• Born in Arizona, 1936
• Author of ten books of poems and has performed her
poetry with music on 9 recordings
• 1954; Married Ornette Coleman
• 1964; Cofounded Watts Repertory Theater Program
• 1969; Pissstained Stairs and the Monkey Man’s
Wares 1st Collection
• 1972: Bola Press
• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zcCHXSIFLfg

5. The last poetz
• May 19, 1968, Marcus Garvey Park. East Harlem
• Jalal Mansur Nurridin, Umar Bin Hassan, Abiodun
Oyewole, Nilaja Obabi
• 1970; self titled debut album
• Late 60s – early 70s, Student Nonviolent
Coordinating Committee, Students for a
Democratic Society, Black Panther Party
• Social ills: poverty, racism, classicism toward
African Americans
• This Is Madness (1971), jazzoetry
• Key releases: The Last Poets, This Is Madness,
Chastisement.

6. Gil scott-heron
• April 1, 1949, Chicago, Ill.
• Musical story telling: Poet, Writer, “Prophet” & Griot
• Jackson, Tennessee ‘til age 12
• NYC – Age 13 until death in May 2011
• The Fieldston school, full scholarship
• Black & Blues, Small Talk at 125 & Lenox, The
Revolution Will Not Be Televised (1970)
• “Witty satires, not so funny reality”
• Whitey on the Moon

7. Nikki giovanni
• “We write because we believe the human spirit
cannot be tamed and should not be trained”
• Black American, a daughter, a mother, a professor
of English
• Born Yolande Cornelia Giovanni Jr, Knoxville,
Tennessee
• Grad. Fisk University w/ Honors, 1967
• Published Black Feeling, Black Talk (1967), Black
Judgment (1968)
• Poems “The True Import of Present Dialogue” and
“The Great Pax White”
• “Ego Tripping”

8. THE END

9. Sources
• Mphande, Lupenga. “African Oral Literature”. Oxford African American Studies Center. Africana: The Encyclopedia of the African and
African American Experience, Second Edition. Web. 23 Oct. 2012.
• Aiello, Thomas. “Black Arts Movement”. Oxford African American Studies Center. Encyclopedia of African American History, 1896 to
the Present: From the Age of Segregation to the Twenty-first Century. Web. 23 Oct. 2012.
• Garret, Van. G. “Cortez, Jayne”. Oxford African American Studies Center. Encyclopedia of African American History, 1896 to the
Present: From the Age of Segregation to the Twenty-first Century. Web. 23 Oct. 2012.
• Wilkinson, Michelle J. “Cortez, Jayne”, Oxford African American Studies Center. The Concise Oxford Companion to African American
Literature. Web. 23 Oct. 2012
• ”Jayne Cortez.” jaynecortez08.com. Web. 23 Oct. 2012.
• “Jayne Cortez”. Afropoets.net. Web. 23 Oct. 2012.
• Hinton, Kaavonia. “Scott-Heron, Gil”. Oxford African American Studies Center. African American National Biography. Web. 23 Oct
2012.
• Foster, Lloren A. “Scot-Heron, Gil”. Oxford African American Studies Center. Encyclopedia of African American History, 1896 to the
Present: From the Age of Segregation to the Twenty-first Century. Web. 23 Oct 2012.
• "Nikki Giovanni : Bio." Nikki Giovanni : Bio. Nikki Giovanni, n.d. Web. 12 Nov. 2012. http://nikki-giovanni.com/ibio.shtml.
• Fowler, Virginia C.. "Giovanni, Nikki." Black Women in America, Second Edition. Ed. Darlene Clark HineNew York: Oxford UP, 2008.
Oxford African American Studies Center. Mon Nov 12 01:43:02 EST 2012. <http://www.oxfordaasc.com/article/opr/t0003/e0161>