Analysis Of Black Community Impacted And Unified By Black Literature

Black Community Impacted and Unified by Black Literature

In R. Alan Brooks’ TedTalk, the question, “When the World is Burning is Art a Waste of Time?” is proposed. He mentions how he has created art as a form of activism, stating that his art has inspired change around the world (Brooks). While this is a key point made in the presentation, it quickly becomes shadowed by the overreaching fact of Brooks being black. He continually mentions anecdotes that seem to fulfill a word count instead of providing an answer. It is clear that Brooks being black gave way to inspiration for the answer, but rather than truly capitalizing on this fact, it becomes a hinderance to the presentation’s understanding. Rather than only providing anecdotal facts, I

Art may not seem important on a surface level; however, the stories behind the art and even beyond what is seen have resounding importance throughout society. It is also important to mention that art is beyond what is seen in an art gallery and also includes music, cinema, theater, and most importantly literature. Literature, like other forms of art, has heavily impacted society. This can especially be seen throughout the black community, which has become more unified through literature by black literary artists like Maya Angelou and Toni

As a black woman she created a space for women to show their confidence as well as be comfortable within their own skin despite their background. Throughout her pieces, her artistic voice captures her strength, courage, and resilience which resonates with her readers. This is especially seen throughout her autobiography I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings, which is “credited with helping other abuse survivors tell their stories” (Spring). Despite schools wanting to ban the book for its depiction of abuse, over a million copies have sold worldwide and it has been translated into a variety of languages (Spring). This demonstrates Angelou’s wide-reaching influence as more and more people are willing to read her pieces and learn about her experience as a black woman that has influenced so many other black women. With her wide-reaching influence and many awards and recognitions she has been given, Angelou has been able to give hope to women and young girls within the black community that there is a place for recognition outside the walls of their