After Mecca: Women Poets and the Black Arts Movement
This scholarly work examines the relationship between the Black Arts Movement and Black women writers during the transformative period of the 1960s and early 1970s. Author Cheryl Clarke provides the only book-length treatment of Black women poets of this era, their contributions to feminism and lesbian-feminism, and their lasting impact on subsequent generations of poets.
Featured Poets and Their Contributions
The book analyzes works by Gwendolyn Brooks, Ntozake Shange, Audre Lorde, Nikki Giovanni, Sonia Sanchez, Jayne Cortez, Alice Walker, and other influential voices who charted the emergence of a distinct Black poetry. These poems document the Black community's struggle for rights and liberation during the Civil Rights era, while simultaneously developing feminist and lesbian-feminist perspectives that would shape future literary movements.
Critical Analysis and Literary Significance
Clarke argues that whether Black women poets were writing from within the movement or against it, virtually all were responding to its powerful influence. Using the trope of "Mecca," she explores how these writers turned away from white, western society to create a new literacy of Blackness. The book traces how these poets navigated the often male-dominated Black Arts Movement while asserting their own voices and perspectives.
Academic and Research Value
Published by Rutgers University Press, this provocatively written book serves as an important contribution to African American literary studies and feminist theory. Clarke, herself a poet with four published collections, brings an insider's perspective to her analysis, having witnessed part of the era she examines. The work is essential reading for graduate studies, cultural studies research, and anyone interested in the intersection of race, gender, and literary production during this revolutionary period in American literature.
