the followers of Malcolm X, rejected King’s non-
violent approach to integration, preferring to
focus on African American self-sufficiency and
self-determination. Leaders such as Stokely Car-
michael and Robert Williams called for a new
racial consciousness represented by the slogan
‘‘Black Power.’’ The black power movement
asserted that self-esteem and self-determined
standards of beauty were necessary to bring the
imbalance of power between African Americans
and whites into line. A subsidiary of the black
power movement was the ‘‘Black Is Beautiful’’
initiative. African Americans were encouraged
to embrace a new appreciation for their own
physical characteristics and for their own artistic
creations, rather than use cosmetic products
such as hair straighteners and skin bleach or
adopt literary genres and styles borrowed from
European writers.
Clifton’s poems in Two-Headed Woman
were composed between 1969 and 1980. The
poem ‘‘homage to my hips’’ in particular demon-
strates the celebration of African American
beauty and womanhood growing out of the
black power movement.
The Black Arts Movement
The black arts movement was the cultural corol-
lary to the more political black power move-
ment. The black arts movement called for a
black aesthetic that would connect the worlds
of art and literature with the world of African
Americans. The purpose of such an aesthetic
would be to use black experience as a vital and
necessary component of art. Only through the
celebration and valuing of black experience
could African Americans reforge a common cul-
ture from those that had been nearly destroyed
over the centuries among the black diaspora
after African peoples were kidnapped and sold
into slavery all over the globe.
The black arts movement found expression
with writers such as Clifton’s friend, Amiri Bar-
aka, who founded the Black Arts Repertory
Theatre/School (BART/S). Baraka believed
that artists are by necessity political activists.
Members of Baraka’s school performed plays
on street corners and wherever they could find
an audience. Other important writers of the
period included Larry Neal, Gwendolyn Brooks,
Sonia Sanchez, Betye Saar, Jeff Donaldson,COMPARE
&
CONTRAST 1970s: Anorexia nervosa, a potentially
deadly eating disorder in which victims
starve themselves to become thin (some-
times resulting in death), comes to public
attention.
Today:Some researchers estimate that the
incidence of anorexia has doubled in the
United States since 1970, yet at the same
time an ever-growing segment of the popu-
lation has become obese.
1970s:Women struggle to attain equal sta-
tus with men in all segments of society,
including the workplace.
Today:Although women still find it difficult
to break through the ‘‘glass ceiling’’ (a term
indicating the limitations in careeradvancement for women), many more
women serve as presidents and executives
of large companies than ever before.
1970s:Through the black arts movement,
the artistic corollary to the black power
movement, writers such as Amiri Baraka
and Ishmael Reed argue that art, particu-
larly among African Americans, must not be
just art for art’s sake but rather should have
a moral, ethical, and political purpose.
Today:African American writers and artists
produce work in all genres of art; while their
work often reflects African American expe-
rience, their audiences include all segments
of the culture.homage to my hips