After the Universal Declaration of Human Rights in 1948, the subject of human rights expanded profoundly from a limited post –war world to a fundamental aspect of the American policy. The non-governmental organizational lobby groups which were formed during the 1970s reclaimed the American virtue on account of non-linear civil rights movements. The civil rights movement which was at the peak in 1970s had emerged from the lip-serving political piety to become an integral component of the United States policy. Central to the US story during the 70s was the continuing Cold War in the Middles East by those who wished to block détente and extend the war indefinitely. Given its current ubiquity, America has been involved in human rights both domestically and internationally during the 1970s. When the new movement came, it was perceived to be an extension of battles that had began in the sixties in search of homegrown monsters to slay during the 70s. Some of the issues which were connected with the civil rights during the 70s included the feminist and the Black movements. Key players such as Toni Cade Bambara, Jayne Cortez and Ella Baker joined in defense of human rights. Bambara, Cortez and Baker influenced the American culture through the Black arts movement which stood to the most controversial moment for the African-American literature during the 1970s. Rooted to the Civil Rights Movement, the three characters explored the African-American historical and cultural experiences and changed American’s attitudes toward the meaning of ethic literature in English departments (Holmes 75). Although black literature been criticized for being anti-Semitic, homophobic, radically exclusive and misogynist, it has also been credited to the generation of new writers, artists and poets.

Toni Cade Bambara, Jayne Cortez and Ella Baker

In response to these incumbent levels of dissents, Bambara recognized the need to create unifying ethos among the black women, based on not just the actions and attitudes of the oppressors, but on the corpus of the oppressed. Bambara marked the emergence of Black literature during the 1970s. She has been credited for writing stories such as Tales and Stories for Black Folks, My Man Bovanne, which contained tales of the African-American struggles against the oppression by the white community. Furthermore, in 1970, Bambara charged the highly political civil rights and women movements by publishing an anthology of fiction, non-fiction and poetry, entitles The Black Woman. The most powerful rhetorical expression that Bambara used the emphasis on people to align their experience with what was right, instead of just having the urges of deep introspection of self-respect. Bambara fought for the recognition of Black women in different ways. For instance, she suggested unity among the sexes and proper child rearing which would be built first at homes, before taking on other seemingly revolutionary aspirations. In the effort to speak the thoughts of the Black women feminists, Bambara espoused the idea of gender equality, by fighting for the Black women so that they could have an appeal to authority. During the 1970s, the prevailing authority treated them as less than humans; in addition, they were treated as intellectually unable to elucidate their situation. She argued that the capitalist society had made man to be uncompromising, lusty, and aggressive and the provider of goods. On the other hand, she argued that the woman was intuitive, emotional, gracious, retiring, attractive and the consumer of goods. As a result, this is the statement that became the epitome of many literature works within her anthology, revealing the changing attitudes during the 1970s (Holmes 175).

For most women who have been treated as the Black, Aesthetics, Jayne Cortez is an exceptional woman who has been credited for contributing to the Black arts movement. From countless bombastic poems that were written in the form of convectional feminity, Cortez focused on the disabling of the overbearing masculinity which the Black women sought to escape. For instance, first book, Pisstained Stairs and the Monkey Man’s Wares which was published in 1969, she expressed the values of the Black arts. For example, she vilified gay Black men for betraying their “race” in the name of their manhood. The poem internalized racism buy describing the whimpering sons who had become the confused and the lost tribe. At the pitch of desperation, Cortez showed that the confused sons had repudiated their mothers by turning back on their women, and on reaching a closing couplet; she demonstrated that their masculinity needed help. Cortez was increasing stylist to express a lot of concerns in the new Black poetry such as women rape and racisms by the white community. Her works during the 70s have been studied and influenced the American gender equality and race relations (Page 124).

Besides Cortez and Bambara contributions to the Black arts movements during the 1970s, Ella Baker is also known as a radical democratic visionary who fought for Black Freedom movement during the 1970s in America. Baker had a political influence on the way the Black people were being treated by the whites during the 70s. She persistently protracted process of discourse, consensus debates, reflection and struggle; in order to ensure the poor (Black community) would be considered as part of the community. Baker’s concept of democracy and collective power shaped the lives and the direction of history in the relationship between the African-Americans and the white people (Moye 65).

Conclusion

The three key players of the Black movement during the 1970s did not focus only a particular wing of Black Freedom movement; instead, they forged a hybrid style of political leadership. As a long-term goal, the three characters fought for an egalitarian, democratic and humane world.

Works Cited

Holmes, Linda Janet. A Joyous Revolt: Toni Cade Bambara, Writer and Activist. New York, NY:

ABC-CLIO, 2014. Print.

Moye, J. Todd. Ella Baker: Community Organizer of the Civil Rights Movement. New York,

NY: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, 2013. Print.

Page, Yolanda Williams. Encyclopedia of African American Women Writers. Westport:

Greenwood Publishing Group, 2007. Print.

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