Black Power Exhibition Resource Guide: Spreading the Word

Whether cultural, political, social, or academic, written texts by Black Power artists and activists was unprecedented. Periodicals, newspapers, books, publishing companies, and bookstores empowered the community by providing historical knowledge, political and revolutionary awareness, and cultural pride.

To bring their message directly to the communities they served, organizations published their own newspapers. As expressions of the interconnectedness of Black Power and the Black Arts Movement, they were often literary and political, covering local and international issues and presenting poetry, short stories, and graphic arts. Small publishing companies offered an outlet to poets, novelists, educators, scholars, and activists.

-Sylviane Diouf, Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture