Purpose:

When we think of the New York School, we generally think of Frank O’Hara, Ted Berrigan, and so on--all famous white poets. Their notability often overshadowed the equally-important contributions of non-white poets in the New York School. African-American, Latino, and Asian poets associated with the New York School viewed and wrote about life in America differently when compared with their white counterparts. In particular, we focus on Amiri Baraka, Lorenzo Thomas, Ishmael Reed, Jayne Cortez, and John Yau. By analyzing these poets’ work, we attempt to show how they were simultaneously influenced by the aesthetics of the New York School and their distinctive cultural and ethnic backgrounds. This duality of influence mirrors these poets’ place in the artistic world; while they were a part of the New York School, the thematic and formal differences in their poetry illustrate how they occupied the margins of this social and artistic movement. Therefore, the works of these five poets are particularly telling of the challenges that minority authors faced in literary and political climates.

In examining the work of these poets, we found that their poems address racial oppression, racist content in New York School poetry, and interactions between white poets and poets of color. In addition, this project explores each poet’s contributions to the discussion of race through mediums outside of poetry like prose, articles, interviews, and speeches. Understanding these poets through additional mediums gives a more holistic view of each poet, allowing us to see their full societal impact from the 1960s to the 1980s, when civil rights for minorities became the foremost of issues.

Research and Analysis:

The five poets we chose to discuss are all united by crusades for justice and equality, especially within the New York School. They faced discrimination, oppression, and violence in their personal and professional lives. In reaction to these experiences, many of the poets chose to write stylistically frank, forceful depictions of this racial inequality, discrimination, and oppression in an attempt to dismantle systemic racism.

For example, LeRoi Jones, who became Amiri Baraka, chose to attack the problems of civil rights head-on. Influenced by the Marxist-Leninist philosophy of post-colonialist thinkers, Baraka believed that the Black race could only achieve self-determination through a revolution in all aspects of life, including literature. Calls for “poems that kill / assassin poems, poems that shoot” appear in Baraka’s poem “Black Art,” an emblematic poem of what became known as the Black Arts Movement, a peer literary movement to the New York School. While attacking these issues, Baraka also struggled with his own identity as a Black man. This is evident in the sexual and racial angst in his 1964 play Dutchman. Throughout the play, Clay struggles with whether his affection towards a white woman, Lula is socially acceptable or not.

Lorenzo Thomas’ poems offer a critical perspective into the past while retaining the nonchalance associated with the New York School. Rather than directly calling for change, Thomas utilizes sarcasm, mixing tones and voices, and performance to subtly undermine racist societal constructs. In “MMDCCXIII 1/2,” he recalls visiting a home and finding elements reminiscent of slave quarters. He writes, “Our living room was once somebody’s home/Our bedroom, someone’s only room/Our kitchen had a hasp upon its door.” His poetry allows readers to reflect on how systems of oppression implemented in the past currently affect Black people. Thomas was also a part of the Black Arts Movement in New York City and a member of the Umbra workshop, whose other members include Ishmael Reed, Calvin Hernton, and Tom Dent. As part of the Umbra poets, Reed and Thomas partook in late-night meetings, and readings that allowed Black writers to showcase their talents and express their unique voices highlighting African American experiences and history.

Ishmael Reed chooses to use subtle yet equally powerful messages in his novels and poems. One example is “Railroad Bill, A Conjure man,” which uses storytelling to illustrate the persecution of Black Americans. The message is captivating without being direct, letting readers draw their own conclusions from the story weaved by Reed. Unlike his poems, Reed is unafraid to be direct in his interviews, calling out white writers like Robert Towers in an interview with Reginald Martin for claiming to have the authority to proclaim Alice Walker as the “best practitioner of Black writing,” despite not having read many famous Black works himself.

Jayne Cortez is another poet who critiqued systems of racial oppression in the US. Cortez is an African-American poet associated with both the New York School and the Black Arts Movement. Similar to other New York School poets, Cortez experiments with blending artistic mediums; she is known for reading her poetry alongside avant-garde music. However, the meaning and thematic elements of her poetry are more reflective of the Black Arts Movement. In her poetry, Cortez criticizes police brutality against African-Americans, the treatment of women of color during the 60s and 70s, and discrimination against Black poets and artists.

At first glance, John Yau seems to be the stereotypical continuation of the New York School. From the 1980s to the present, Yau has been engaging with visual art as a prolific art critic, studied under John Ashbery, and writes poems that juxtapose beauty and eloquence with ugly racism and hatred. However, Yau, an Asian-American poet, struggles to see himself in the mainly white New York School pantheon. His struggle extends to his own self-identity as he contends with peoples’ questioning of his Asian heritage and his American identity, explored in “Ing Grish.” For example, he says “[b]ecause I do not know Chinese I have been told that means I am not Chinese by a man who translates from the Spanish.” His very identity and heritage is brought into question by a detractor that has no authority to do so, the only authority being his own ability to speak Chinese.

Contribution to the Field:

This artifact provides a consolidated source for future scholars interested in exploring the topic of race in the New York School. To date, no scholarship exists that specifically explores the role of race in the New York School or makes claims for how writers of color influenced the New York School. This website utilizes primary sources to give scholars a minority’s perspective on the New York School. Our website draws connections between marginalized poets who have shared experiences with oppression. More specifically, we analyze how their cultural backgrounds influence their respective works. Furthermore, there is a lack of discussion on women of color in the New York School that this artifact addresses by analyzing Jayne Cortez’s poetry to explore racism through the lens of gender.

This artifact also provides a resource for scholars to explore the intersection of the New York School,the Black Arts Movement, and Umbra. Baraka, the founder of the Black Arts Movement, worked heavily to promote the non-literary aspects of the BAM, especially jazz. In Baraka’s article “Jazz and the White Critic,” he argues that jazz music “cannot be completely understood (in critical terms) without some attention to the attitudes that produced it.” This Baraka’s justification for why Black music should be treated with equal, if not more, respect than western music. Similarly, Cortez was a prominent member of the Black Arts Movement and considered herself a “jazz poet.” As we discovered in our research, the Black Arts Movement represented the greatest achievements of minority literature and arts in New York City.

Header image taken by Everett Collection Art titled: Colored Waiting Room Sign. Courtesy of Fine Art America.