Black Feminism as a Literary Tradition

Abstract

The research paper posits to detail the black literary tradition.When the American art is viewed as a whole, the contribution of blacks is found in a miniature fraction, if we exclude their folk tradition of melody and dances. Merely, three generations have been passed of blacks’ early years. The black literary tradition has immediately passed its immaturity. At first, the silent era subsequent to slavery has existed. Folk tales and music inform readers about these black writers and artists who have lived and died. African - American literature has propagated the fact that blacks have been repressed. They resisted against relentless repression. After reconstruction period black lips became verbal. This new black man took two to three generations to expand his inspirations and contemplations to correspond to his own sentiments. Those black male authors have no evidence to converse for blacks who took three quarters of a century (75 years) to visible them in a literary tradition.
 Black women voices have been suppressed in context of black women’s literature and black cultural tradition. African - American women have been excluded from western writings in historical period. Both African American men and White men have denied African - American women a platform in literary tradition. Reading text has influenced African - American women to raise voice against racism. The institutional practices of racism by white patriarchal power structure have rebuffed to acknowledge black women historically. The racism and gender oppression practiced against black women persuaded them to write with reference to the perspectives of black women. After 1960’s, the black writings flourished. In Reading Black Reading Feminist a Critical Anthology (1990) edited by Henry Louis Gates, states expression of Anna Julia Cooper. She lays emphasis on recognition of black women literary tradition was in need to claim authority. Since 1970, with the publication of literary artifacts of African tradition, black women have come in the vanguard of African - American literary tradition. Several Black women writers works are studied and intertwined into a literary tradition like, Anna Julia Cooper, Zora Neale Hurston, Barbara Christian, Alice Walker, Patricia Hills Collins, Bell Hooks and Angela Y. Davis. Social animosities have been made between black women and black men with black women’s success of literary tradition and black men sexism towards them.