This post highlights the critical work of Black artists who helped to bring African-American experiences into the elite art world. Black Arts as a movement speaks straight to the requirements and aspirations of Black America. The Black artist speaks to the spiritual and cultural requirements of Black individuals in their artistry.
African-American arts represent a cultural movement. It includes many visual artists, efficiency artists, sculptors, authors, artists, and more. The professionals of Black arts are encouraged by a desire to confront white power structures and assert an African American cultural identity. Witchcrafts aim to serve the community and artists.
Happy Black History Month! This year the Rediscovering Black History blog at the National Archives would like to highlight select posts from the past. This public blog was created to inform researchers, scholars, students, and anyone interested in records related to African-American history at the National Archives and Presidential Libraries on the vast amount of textual, electronic, photographs, and special media available for use. For the past four years, NARA employees, student interns, and independent researchers have written informative and insightful blogs on the black experience through the use of our holdings. The highlighted blog posts for the month of February will center around popular themes. Today’s theme is the Post-Reconstruction Era.
Telegram from John Beggett, Secretary of the Ministerial Alliance to President Warren G. Harding, 01/08/1923
The Post-Reconstruction Era refers to the period between the Compromise of 1877 and the early twentieth century, when African Americans faced widespread disenfranchisement, legal discrimination, anti-black violence, and lynching. Historian Rayford Logan coined this era as the Nadir, which he described as the lowest point of racial relations in US history. Selected blogs in this topic relate to lynching, protest, and the image of African Americans.
- “Freedmen’s Bureau Transportation Records: Letters of “Sold” Former Slaves Seeking to Rejoin Loved Ones” by Damani Davis
- “Lynching of Women in the United States Blog Series Part 1: The Lynching of Sisters Eula and Ella Charles” by Trichita M. Chestnut
- “Lynching of Women in the United States Blog Series: The Lynching of Belle Hathaway” by Trichita M. Chestnut
- “Celebrating the Faithful Colored Mammies of the South” by Lopez Matthews
- “Ida B. Wells-Barnett Take Crusade Against Racial Violence to the President” by Trichita M. Chestnut
- “When the Government Can’t Help” by Netisha Currie
Black artists highlight racial pride, a gratitude of African heritage, and a commitment to produce works that reflect the culture and experiences of black individuals. In each period, occasions of the day galvanize black artists to create, arrange, and transform the world.