written by Lexi MondotThe Black Arts movement, however, did not stem out of King’s movement, but it sprouted from the Black Power movement and Black Panther militant vision. Dreamt up by people such as Malcom X and Muhammed, Black Power saw a nation within a nation, a place where African American culture could manifest without the infection of the white gaze. New Orleans’s unique and diverse background began upon it’s foundation. French ‘criminals,’ prostitutes, ‘lewd’ women, and other outcasts were sent from Europe to what is known today as the French Quarter. There was a large intermingling of races, thus a large percentage of mixed race families, including African American, Indian, French, German, Spanish and ‘Creole’ inhabitants. The attraction of the city began in the late 1800s and early 1900s with, not the legalization of prostitution, but a designated quarter in which prostitution was ‘ignored’ by the law. This developed the early economic standing of the city, as these women brought in an estimated 15 million per year (Rose 31) from which realtors, police, tax collectors, etc., all profited. Tourism was big business, and New Orleans became well known for exploitation. This exploitation de-mingled the races, as segregation in New Orleans became more strict than other places in the South. New laws were being enforced that prohibited all non-white races to live outside their designated quarter; even non-white, or mixed race prostitutes were segregated into special houses of their own. This segregation increased the ‘othering’ of non-white races in New Orleans, and turned their heritage into a spectacle to be exploited.
By the 1950s and 60s, civil rights activists in the city were working hard towards de-segregating the city. The city’s movement is marked by the large number of interracial peoples, who appeared white, but carried no more rights than the freed African Americans. This large group was very influential in fighting the white supremacists of the city, as other whites had “fewer prejudices against interracial unions” (Lacey). The dense diversity in the city, along with the peaceful efforts of the civil rights movement, lead to a revolutionary theatrical movement, pioneered by the Dashiki Theatre. The Dashiki Project Theatre was very unique in its efforts, on account of being the only black theatre to grow out of the peculiar New Orleans. The black Free Southern Theatre claims New Orleans as its home, but it was not born there. Founded in Mississippi, it later moved to Louisiana. Dashiki’s unequaled mission also stems from its individualized participation in the Black Arts Movement. It was influenced the Black Arts Movement, and vice versa, but it’s vision was global, leading it to be one of the more successful and effective advocators of Black Theatre. Although we rarely hear about this group in the history books, it was one of the most revolutionary theaters the south has seen, thanks to the effectiveness and comprehensiveness of their stances. Their effective activism in advancing civil rights ideals can be seen in the way they represented and related to race politics, gender, and the South. The Dashiki Project Theater’s political stance is part of what separates it from other Black Arts at the time. The project owes its political positioning to its origin, chosen aesthetic and location. The project was mounted by Dillard University students under the guidance of Theodore Guilliam. This university was one of the first black universities to offer a degree in theatre. With many of the students involved in non-violent sit-ins aimed towards integration, historically black southern universities were identified as a “ground zero of the civil rights movement of the 50s and 60s”(Smethurst 319). To understand why it was important to Dashiki’s mission that these students began as civil rights activists, and not black arts participants, one must examine their histories and missions. The Civil Rights movement stemmed out of Rosa Park’s efforts to be equally integrated; to end separation on busses, at water-fountains, in parks, etc. Martin Luther King was a non-violent leader using silent sit-ins and calm protest to raise awareness of segregation and the harm it was doing to African Americans. He proved that separate was, in fact, not equal. The Black Arts movement, however, did not stem out of King’s movement, but it sprouted from the Black Power movement and Black Panther militant vision. Dreamt up by people such as Malcom X and Muhammed, Black Power saw a nation within a nation, a place where African American culture could manifest without the infection of the white gaze. A civil rights activist fights for integration, while the extreme black power activist fights for separation and improvement of the black experience. Beginning in a learning environment with a civil rights background, the Dashiki Project Theater differs enormously from theaters such as the Free Southern Theater. The Free Southern Theatre originated from the SNCC (Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee) thus “it is not surprising that the mission... was political in scope”(Coleman 9). Black Arts Theaters fought for an all black theatre, including production crew, writers, and audience. A ‘for us by us’ mentality that excluded all non-blacks from its membership. Therefore, the components that make up the Dashiki Project allowed room for a more advanced vision, because its students were more concentrated on civil integration than black power. Launching a company from a university, also contributed to Dashiki’s distinct situation because although young students are more eager to work for free than older professional artists; the collection of students in the project had to be driven by a sincere and enormous amount of passion in order to put in the amount of work they did to run a professional theater. In conclusion, the make up of the Dashiki Project included well-trained, and learned black men and women who were motivated enough to spend their spare time on creating an integrated aesthetic for their community. This history is important to understanding Dashiki’s choice of aesthetic. Using theatre as a means to advance a political agenda, was at the root of the Black Arts Movement. The movement began in literature, but since “Black literature circulated in a closed circuit...The theatre was alive and so much more immediate and accessible to blacks”(Coleman 97). The inherent accessibility of drama made Dashiki’s voice political, however, its goal wasn’t to advance the black power fight, but to make high quality art. Instead of fighting for an all-black theatre, like Ed Bullins of the National Black Theater in Harlem, LeRoi Jones, and Woodie King Jr. of New Federal Theater of New York City, the Dashiki project included other races in its personnel, artists, and producers. The Dashiki project fought for a sophisticated theatre that originated under Black Artists, giving room for their aesthetic to be seen, and yet, was not racially exclusive. It focused on choosing high quality drama they could study and rehearse; and mounting performances of high caliber that could impress. Gilliam believed that the “power and potential of theatre [can] transcend any particular ethnic agenda”(Coleman 91). This philosophy served the theatre in a positive way, because it eroded rumors of reverse racism, allowed for a wider repertoire of plays, and enhanced the ability to obtain government funding. To Dashiki, the benefits of integrating the theatre for a global vision of ethnic compatibility outweighed the risk of losing black heritage. Black Arts Theaters looked down upon Dashiki’s inclusion of white plays in their repertoire such as Jean Genet’s The Blacks, Tennessee William’s A Streetcar Named Desire, and Jean Racine’s Phaedra. Black Power activists believed that the ‘white experience’ can never be ‘black experience,’ and that representation of blacks had been unbalanced for centuries. They had no interest in allowing whites to write for or participate in the formulation of black identity in the arts. No white should write their dialogue, or direct their movement... for it will always be a white construct of the black minstrel. This attitude towards whites is well merited, as whites had up to that point abused the image of the black citizen. However, excluding all whites can also be a problem because according to Coleman, the skilled black artists in these theatres were too few in number, and those who had some theatrical and playwriting training were deficient in many other areas. In reality black playwrights were too few in number for such groups to consider only black plays for production. And there were even fewer black directors or producers. The black theatres that were part of this movement performed only plays written by blacks, portraying the black experience. Yet such plays often were the plays of the black revolutionary period, and they were aesthetically confusing and inadequate (99). The Dashiki Project allowed room for compromise, and although it enabled the influence of other cultures, they were still a primarily black organization. By opening up their political stance and actively challenging the minstrel stereotype, Dashiki made sophisticated black theatre appealing to mix-raced peoples outside of the black community. Theatre is the largest source of the black stereotypes, as it often ridicules black characters by always placing them in the role of the mammie, the Uncle Tom, the joker, the ‘Puck,’ or the Minstrel. The best way to hit the public where it hurts, is to not only show Black artists perform new original black work, but to show them in roles of Kings and Queens in classical works... and to play them with a well-trained cast and crew. Dashiki created an artistic outlet which does not ignore the white experience, but provides “a corrective to all the misrepresentations of the past that are persisting in the present, all the better to create the drama of men whose color is not the only measure of their humanity” (Black Theatre 5) (Coleman 100). It is difficult for victims of violence and oppression to find affective ways of getting their voices heard. Any type of accusations, although justified, against the oppressor always becomes backlash with accusations of ‘reverse oppression,’ in this case, reverse racism. Although the Black Arts Movement is by all means justified in its vision, and one of the most significant movements in the history of American art, it did receive large amounts of resistance and backlash because of its radical point of view. Using integration and inclusion of all races, makes Dashiki’s mission more palpable, which allows for those whites who have a lot of power and money... to help them. This philosophy also avoided accusation of extreme leftism, which after 1948’s Wallace Campaign was grounds for expulsion or loss of jobs. The most effective, yet difficult way to oppose oppression, is for the oppressed to succeed at the oppressor’s game. The Dashiki Project understood from square one, that if they were to advance black image, it would be through proving their artistic integrity and sophistication, not through violence, or vengeful blaming of the other. During this period, and even today, there is an imbalance of power, money and representation, so for Dashiki to have whites on their side, meant more than a warm-fuzzy feeling of acceptance. It also meant money. It meant white board members who had money and power, wanted to speak on Dashiki’s behalf. It meant white reporters wanted to provide free publicity and enlarge the theatre’s public by appeal to even race-conscious whites of the time. The Black Arts movement chose a more militant approach, which would have seen the Dashiki approach as weak, by ‘giving in’ to white influence. The militant attitude of the Black Power Movement fought to establish a Black Identity through abrupt and sometimes violent militancy to re-establish the strength and agency of the black man. As a result of black power, The Black Arts movement in effect fought for black male identity while oppressing the identities of black women, gays and lesbians. The Black Arts movement decided that after 300 years of emasculating the black male, it was time to decolonize the body. The female body, however, is forgotten.. it continues unheard in this battle. The largest part of a power struggle is silencing, and black women today are still battling the silenced female perspective. Even contemporary writers, in 2003 speak of the black struggle from a primarily male perspective. For example, Coleman (as cited in this paper) addresses to a large extent the gender aesthetic of Dashiki, and explains how men were the primary leaders of the Black Arts Movement. He points out how black women were often disrespected, and derogatory statements were made about them in many Black Arts works. But then he reasons the advocation of re-claiming manhood by stating it “is not difficult to understand in the light of how slavery emasculated the black male in the United States and problematized issues of masculinity.” If a movement is looking to advance thought, why should it examine how slavery emasculated men, but omit the de-feminization of women? In essence, the Black Arts Movement fights against the emasculation of black men, and not the dehumanization of black people. This alienation of oppressed groups from other oppressed groups, expands complication and tension, which is why the Dashiki Project Theatre’s inclusiveness was so innovative. In a movement that “empowered black males at the expense of black females,” (Coleman 96) it was hard to find a theatre that represented the female identity, let alone in a positive non-victimized light. The Dashiki Theatre included women in its founding personnel, and also made a point to include female perspective in its repertoire. Jean Genet, and Ntozake Shange’s works were both put on the Dashiki’s production list, which truly rounded the expansive nature of the Dashiki perspective. Genet’s work is a white female’s perspective of racism in France. Extremely innovative to put this into the hands of a black director to express female sentiments of a male-dominated fight. The next piece, Shange’s For Colored Girls Who Have Ever Considered Suicide when the Rainbow Was Enuf, is very unique in its perspective as a multimedia performance; it includes prose, dance, music, video, and lighting to propose new ways of telling a story or depicting life. She chose nameless characters, representing each color of the rainbow in order to deconstruct the standard male/female or black/white diaspora. All of the characters were on the same plane, the same level of power, and with the same amount of time allotted to speak. They begin by stating all the different cities they’re from, globalizing the ability to identify with the piece. The prose is full of analogies, and no part is spoken the way we normally communicate. Her deconstruction of words and reality, works to demonstrate a consciousness particular to the black female experience. Something that can’t necessarily be expressed in the typical three act structure and sensical dialogue. In a way her piece can be linked to the Theatre of Cruelty, in that it overwhelms all the senses and all reasoning. It is the result of a generation of women who have been fighting a war in silence, and fighting to have something to live for, as the Lady in Brown says, “we gotta dance to keep from dyin”(Shange 7). As Todd has stated in class, “women enjoy character development driven plots, while men prefer linear climactic plots”(Ristau 9/5/11). It’s a shame that this type of episodic and character driven plot is rare, because fifty percent of the audience (women) relate better to this type of drama. Dashiki’s recognition of the lack of female representation in the movement, allowed them to be more innovative, by providing performances that could also appeal to the female aesthetic. Dashiki’s innovation in race and gender could be considered more impressive than the innovation in theatres found in cities such as New York, Detroit, or Chicago. The participation of the South in the Black Arts Movement differed greatly from that in the North, Midwest, or West. The North has an industrial history that put blacks in a less segregated atmosphere. In the agricultural south, the presence of white supremacists was somewhat more significant, as white’s economic dependence on slaves before the civil war was crucial to their survival. Thus the Black Arts Movement in the south had more agency because it was in a densely racist area; but it had less recognition, because in those agricultural communities, local publishers were scant. Theaters, too, were sparse in the South. Located in either residential areas, or on the campus of a historically black university, Southern Theaters functioned on a local level, targeting and specifying their social or political goals to tight knit communities. Local attention, however doesn’t prevent global influence; because a strong influence on an individual affects American society more than a mild influence on a large group. In order to change the world, one must change themselves, and their community first. Dashiki’s influence resonated because of its local specificity to the New Orleans community. Influence travels fast, however, the chance that the Dashiki Project’s plays would make it out of New Orleans was rather small. The students of Dillard University, come from all over the states, and brought their philosophies and experiences home with them, but none of those experiences included full-fledged productions or publications of the Dashiki repertoire. Editors and publishers were more readily available to the Black Arts Movement theatres in New York, than in New Orleans. This is why New York takes up most of the space in history books as being prominent in the Black Arts Movement, when Smethurst would argue that “while Black Arts institutions of the South often had difficulty attracting attention beyond the region, nonetheless the South was far more crucial symbolically and practically to the development of the Black Arts and Black Power movements as national phenomena than has sometimes been acknowledged”(320). The south was biting bigger bullets, so their success within small communities deserves to be noted. Personal communication and a communal environment is a more practical way to reach people and to change their ideals. This is why Smethurst argues that the specificity of Southern theaters to their individual neighborhoods was a more practical and radical change than that of Northern non-personal publication and production. The Dashiki Project avoided the shortcomings and challenges faced by other theaters in the movement by “remaining essentially a collaboration of theatre artists indigenous to and in the area—permanently and continuously rejuvenated by the wealth of talent and inspiration in generations now growing up in the area.” (5)(Coleman 101). The power of the Dashiki project to radically change perspective of racial and gender identities, one small audience at a time was strong, but highly unrecognized because of its Southern location. The only publications, texts, and histories that include Dashiki, do not serve its reputation well, because they speak solely of the only published play that came out of the theatre, El Hajj Malik, by N.R. Davidson. (Aside from the dissertation done by a master student from Louisiana University: Coleman). This play was centered around the life of Malcom X, a revolutionist of the Black Power Movement. Although it is a well-written play, it does not have the ability to stand single-handedly for the philosophy of the Dashiki Project. This is why, as a Southern Theater, Dashiki’s important influence has been left out of written scholarly history, thought it deserves recognition as successful in radically changing the lives of many during the Black Arts Movement era. Dashiki succeeded in integrating the arts world and allowing the black identity to be seen. It was exciting to have integration in the south at this time, as it was highly segregated. Dashiki still maintained its status as a Black Theatre, in that it welcomed integration, but still had a strong stance towards representing both male and female African American identities on stage. Just as Hollins is a primarily female theater, the fact that it includes men in productions doesn’t change the importance of it being a primarily female theatre. It remains a theatre that gives opportunities for women to learn by experience in roles they would’ve never had otherwise, and it offers a perspective that will never degrade the identity of women. This is revolutionary, as was the Dashiki Project Theatre for Black Identity in the United States. Works Cited Baraka, Imamu Amiri. "Jazz Criticism and Ideology." Libertarian 8 12 (1964): 28-30. Clark, Kenneth B. "The Dilemma of the Negro." Unpublished Papers of Kenneth B. Clark in the Manuscripts Division at the Library of Congress (2004). Abstract. The 1969 Haynes Foundation Lecture Series (1969). Coleman, Stanley R. Dashiki Project Theatre: Black Identity and beyond. Diss. Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge, 2003. Davidson Jr., N. R. El Hajj Malik. New Plays from the Black Theatre; an Anthology. Ed. Ed Bullins. New York: Bantam, 1969. Elam, Harry Justin., and David Krasner. African-American Performance and Theater History: a Critical Reader. Oxford [England: Oxford UP, 2001. Gilliam, Ted. "Black Theatre in New Orleans, 1978-79: A Report." Callaloo 4 (1978): 165-69. JSTOR. Web. 16 Dec. 2011. "Historical Background of the Black Arts Movement (BAM) - Series." THE BLACK COLLEGIAN Online: The Career Site for African-American College Students. Web. 16 Dec. 2011. <http://www.black-collegian.com/african/bam1_200.shtml>. Lester, Julius. "Beep! Beep! Bang! Bang! Umgawa! Black Power!" Look Out Whitey, Black Power's Gon' Get Your Mama. New York, NY: Dial, 1968. 97-107. Magill, Frank N. Masterpieces of African-American Literature. New York, NY: HarperCollins, 1992. Peterson, Rachel. "Teaching Beyond Tolerance." The Radical Teacher 2007: 39-43. JSTOR. Web. 16 Dec. 2011. Rogers, Kim Lacy. Righteous Live: Narrative Of The New Orleans Civil Rights Movement. New York University Press, 1993. eBook Collection (EBSCOhost). Web. 4 Dec. 2011. Romaine, Suzanne. Communicating Gender. Mahwah, NJ: L. Erlbaum Associates, 1999. Print. Rose, Al. Storyville, New Orleans, Being an Authentic, Illustrated Account of the Notorious Red-light District. University: University of Alabama, 1974. Sell, Mike. Avant-garde Performance & the Limits of Criticism: Approaching the Living Theatre, Happenings/Fluxus, and the Black Arts Movement. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan, 2005. Shange, Ntozake. For Colored Girls Who Have Considered Suicide, When the Rainbow Is Enuf: A Choreopoem. New York: MacMillion, 1977. Smethurst, James Edward. The Black Arts Movement: Literary Nationalism in the 1960s and 1970s. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina, 2005.
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